A living miracle, unchanged
At Sinai, Hashem told Moshe to set His words down in writing, and the first Sefer Torah came into the world. In all the thousands of years since, not one detail of how it is made has been allowed to change.
It starts with parchment, hand-made ink, a feather quill sharpened by the scribe himself, and a G‑d fearing sofer. The work demands complete concentration. To hold his focus, the sofer can be heard saying, before he writes, that he is writing for the holiness of a Sefer Torah.
One year of work. Sixty-two large sheets of parchment. Two hundred forty-eight columns, ten thousand four hundred and sixteen lines, and exactly 304,805 letters, every one of them perfect. When it is finished, it is the holiest object in Jewish life.
The day it is carried into the ark of its shul is celebrated like a wedding. The scroll is dressed in velvet, silver and gold, and brought home through the streets with music and dancing.
Three thousand three hundred and thirty three years old, and flawlessly unchanged. That is not a tradition. That is a living miracle.
The very last mitzvah in the Torah
The final mitzvah Moshe gave over in the Torah is the mitzvah to write a Torah. Taking part in the writing of one is a great honor. By endowing a letter, a word or a sentence for yourself, for your children, for your family or for a friend, it is considered as though you wrote an entire Sefer Torah of your own, and the mitzvah is fulfilled.
Through the generosity of Aimie and Michael Rosner, our brand-new Torah begins on Sunday, August 9. The first letters will be written in front of the community, and the scroll will be completed by a professional sofer over the coming year, ready for a completion celebration here in Tamarac.
This Torah is dedicated by Aimie and Michael Rosner, in honor of the health, well-being, growth and success of our community.
We invite you to join us in writing history. Fulfill the mitzvah of writing a Sefer Torah, and unite Jews of every background, by endowing a letter, a word or a sentence in the Tamarac Community Torah for each member of your family. Special selections are also available to dedicate in honor or in memory of a loved one.
Now, you can fulfill this mitzvah. Join us in writing history.
