Waukesha Jewish Community To See New Torah Scroll

WAUKESHA, WI — Waukesha County’s Jewish community will be completing and welcoming their first Torah scroll with a ceremony on Sunday, Sep. 2 at Chabad of Waukesha-Brookfield.

Members of the Jewish community will have the opportunity to be assisted by a certified ritual scribe in using a skillfully-tuned quill to ink in the final letters of the magnificent scroll.

Upon completion of the final lettering, the Torah scroll will be paraded through the streets under a traditional canopy in a joyous procession that will include live music, singing and dancing.

The Torah scroll will be housed in Chabad of Waukesha-Brookfield where it will be used for Shabbat and Holiday services, notably, the upcoming two-day holiday of Rosh Hashanah beginning this year in the evening of Sunday, September 9.

How to go:

WHAT: Chabad of Waukesha-Brookfield Grand Torah Celebration
WHEN: Sunday, September 2 at 1 p.m.
WHERE: Chabad of Waukesha-Brookfield, 1222 E Broadway, Waukesha, WI 53186
INFO: www.JewishWaukesha.com

This particular Torah scroll was primarily written by a scribe in Israel and is the first ever Torah scroll commissioned for the Waukesha County Jewish Community.

"This Torah scroll from the Land of Israel is a beautiful addition to our community as it represents the unbroken chain of Jewish tradition and survival,” said Rabbi Levi Brook, co-director of Chabad of Waukesha-Brookfield, the organization facilitating the writing of the Torah scroll and hosting the event.

An authentic Torah scroll is an intricate masterpiece of labor and skill, comprising between 62 and 84 sheets of parchment that are cured, tanned, scraped and prepared according to exact specifications mandated by Jewish law. Containing precisely 304,805 letters, the resulting handwritten scroll takes months to complete with even a slight error rendering it entirely void.

Deb Hacker, a member of the Waukesha Jewish community and close friend of Chabad of Waukesha-Brookfield helped fund the production of the scroll, and the scroll has been dedicated in memory of her mother, Ms. Ruth Grigo, and grandmother, Ms. Rose Mandelbaum, both of Milwaukee.

"We’re dedicating this Torah in memory of my beloved mother and grandmother in gratitude for their self-sacrifice for our family and the embodiment of true Jewish women of valor,” Hacker said.

For more information about the Grand Torah Celebration and Chabad of Waukesha-Brookfield, visit www.JewishWaukesha.com.

Submitted Photo, Published With Permission