Shavuot celebrated in Lawrence

For the first time since 1977, the Brandeis School, a Jewish community day school in Lawrence, has an additional kosher Torah.
The holy scripture was donated by Elizabeth Kahn and her family two days before the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which occurs seven weeks after Passover. Shavuot commemorates when the ancient Hebrews received the Torah at Mount Sinai.
The Torah belonged to Kahn’s mother, Myrna Greissman, who died in 2012. Kahn graduated from Brandeis is 1984, and her children attend the school.
Kahn, a Hewlett resident, expressed the importance of the dedication and donation of the Torah to the school. “Going back to 1977, the kosher Torah that has been kept at this school was found to have mistakes in the writings,” she said. “Also, over the years, this Torah had been in use over and over again, so wear and tear had damaged it, and [it] was rendered damaged and non-kosher. As it’s very important for a Jewish community day school to have one, to maintain tradition, we wanted to donate my mother’s additionally.”
Rabbi Eli Kahn, the school’s rabbi, said that the original Torah was checked by a sofer, a scribe who serves as a religious authority, knowledgeable in the laws governing the proper writing and assembling of a scroll. During the 2013-14 school year, the original Torah was found not to be kosher. “What makes a Torah not kosher is if a letter becomes scratched or cracked,” Kahn explained. “This can happen because it is handwritten on parchment with a quill.”

Raz Levin, who heads the school, said at the Torah dedication on May 21 that the school was honored to accept it as a gift. “On this Hebrew month more than 3,300 years ago, we received the Torah on Mount Sinai, and today we received the Torah at the Brandeis School,” he said. “In her life as well as in her death, Myrna Greissman, may she rest in peace, gifted us her family. Today, the Kahn family, an integral part and beloved members of the Brandeis family, gifted us a Torah. Dedicating this Torah today is as joyful as new parents bringing a new baby home for the first time. Both the baby and the Torah infuse new life into their respective families.”
With Frost Lane closed, students danced to Israeli music. After remarks from religious leaders and school faculty, the Kahn family and eighth-grade students held the chuppah (canopy) poles as the new Torah was moved into the building. Prayers followed, using the newly dedicated Torah. A sofer demonstrated to each student how to write the first letter of his or her Hebrew name.
“There’s no greater pleasure or honor for me to see all the people come out today to honor my mother-in-law,” Jeremy Kahn said. “The most important thing for me is to see the variety of people that are here, from every different walk of Jewish life, united to receive this Torah before Shavuos.”
A kosher Torah scroll must be hand-written, on parchment that is made from a kosher animal’s skin. The sofer prepares the ink and the writing utensil, a quill. Then he uses a reed instrument to scratch lines into the parchment in preparation for the writing.
Rabbi Zalman Wolowik, director of the Chabad of the Five Towns, said that children have an important role in honoring the Torah. “Especially children of newborn knowledge must be present on Shavuot to hear and receive the Torah,” he said. “There’s nothing more important. We celebrate a wonderful family who has decided to dedicate a Torah to make sure there is Jewish continuity through a kosher Torah here at the school.”
Once the writing has been completed, the parchment pieces are sewn together with thread made of animal veins. The finished scroll is attached to wooden rollers. No instrument containing iron or steel may be used in the creation of a Torah scroll, because those metals are used to create instruments of war. If any of these details are altered, then the Torah is not considered kosher, according to Kahn.
“The completed parchment sections are then sewn together, and then they are connected to and wrapped around two wooden poles called the eitz chaim,” he said. “A Torah contains 304,805 letters, and it takes approximately a year and a half to write a complete Torah.”
“The Torah symbolizes the tree of life, and the Brandeis School is a family, as we the family symbolize the people of Israel,” Levin said. “God bless the Kahn family and us all.”