Congregation celebrates new Torah in ceremony

Congregation celebrates new Torah in ceremony

By Dan Scanlan, [email protected]

Lazar Finker holds up the new Torah during the ceremony. Finker and others contributed for its sterling silver crown and plate seen on the table in front of Rabbi Shmuli Novack.

A year-old Southside Jewish community without a permanent home has its cornerstone now, after a newly created Torah was welcomed with song and dance.
With the recent arrival of the handwritten scroll, Chabad Lubavitch of the Southside now plans for a permanent sanctuary to house the sacred script.

More than 70 members joined Rabbi Shmuli Novack at a ceremony welcoming the Torah Sept. 2 at a Southside hotel. Amid prayers, the last few characters on its parchment pages were completed by a scribe and some of those who contributed to its creation. Then it was carried in song-filled procession around the hotel under a chupah, or canopy, as tradition says a new Torah should be.

"It's really a testament to the growth in this part of town and the success we are having in reaching out to this Jewish community," said Novack. "We are working on our building project and we are close to closing with the help of God and a few banks."

Novack and the congregation had borrowed a Torah scroll from an Ormond Beach congregation. But members decided the fledgling Jewish community needed its own. Funds were raised by people like Lazar Finker, a main contributor who helped carry the sacred text in procession, its shroud carrying a dedication to his family.

A native of Poland, he said he wanted to help because any church or religious institution "needs to be supported by people."

"We are celebrating today not just a new Torah," he said. "We are celebrating some goodness - hope and love, working through all people regardless of borders, nationalities and colors."

Rabbi Mendy Browd, associate rabbi of Chabad of Jacksonville, uses a quill pen and special ink to complete the last few lines of the Chabad of Southside's new Torah during a ceremony Sept. 2 at a Southside hotel.

Chabad is a 235-year-old part of Hasidic Judaism with roots in Jacksonville for the past 15 years. Chabad Southside was formed a year ago to offer programs and services to its growing community, including religious education and programs for University of North Florida students.

A traditional Torah scroll contains the five books of Moses, its estimated 600,000 handwritten letters done in special ink and a quill pen on 54 pieces of parchment. This one was inscribed by a Hasidic Rabbi in Israel, and cost more $40,000.

Finker and Novack helped embellish the Hebrew characters as members watched, some posing for photographs with it.

"A Torah lasts for 50, 100, 300 years - it is a piece of history. There are no words to describe it," Novack said of the scroll's arrival. "It is a tremendous feeling to see all the people gathered here today."

Chabad of Mandarin's associate Rabbi Mendy Browd, a napkin under his hand to prevent any smearing, completed the final lettering. Then the congregation celebrated, ending with a brief prayer service because a new Torah is considered a minor religious holiday.

The Torah arrived in time for Rosh Hashanah, which begins at sundown today, and Yom Kippur, which starts at sundown Friday, Sept. 21.

As for its permanent home, the Chabad is under contract on land off St. Johns Bluff Road to build a sanctuary, school and other facilities in the near future.