President's Message
December / January
Dear Chavarim:
On Sunday, November 14th, we completed a spectacular Opening Ceremony and First Scribing Day for our Torah Project 613.
A big thank you goes out to our dedicated Torah Project 613 Committee for their talents and countless hours in assuring that the event would be a tremendous success! Also, our appreciation goes to our Sofer, Rabbi Bialo, who enlightened us with his knowledge of the Torah and the significance of each letter that we wrote.
Dear Chavarim:
On Sunday, November 14th, we completed a spectacular Opening Ceremony and First Scribing Day for our Torah Project 613.
A big thank you goes out to our dedicated Torah Project 613 Committee for their talents and countless hours in assuring that the event would be a tremendous success! Also, our appreciation goes to our Sofer, Rabbi Bialo, who enlightened us with his knowledge of the Torah and the significance of each letter that we wrote.
Torah Project 613 Committee with Rabbi Bialo: Loren Goldfarb, Rabbi Craig Mayers, David Pelzman, Jennifer Restivo, Neil Perlman, Bill Troner, Shelley Freeman, Ilene Herr
And a big shout out to our Temple Board of Directors who all volunteered their time and energy throughout the entire day and night to support the event!
We had over 160 people in attendance for the Opening Ceremony from TBS as well as from the other Jewish Temples and from the Interfaith Community. Rabbi Pat Hickman and her husband, Cantor Ray participated representing Temple Israel. Jim Solberg and his colleagues were present, representing our neighbors from the international organization, Bridges for Peace. Barbara Vennman was present representing the Interfaith United Organization of Brevard along with representatives from seven of its different religious organizations who were in attendance. Rabbi Konikov from the Chabad sent his good wishes and Father Zacharias from the Saint Katherine Greek Orthodox Church next door to TBS, even joined us after their services ended. The presence of all these organizations and religious institutions was remarkable as we were able to share this inspiring event with those outside our Temple community.
Of special importance, however, was the tremendous experience our Temple members had with writing our own letters in our new Torah!
This extraordinary mitzvah of writing our very own letters comes from the book of Deuteronomy in which we are commanded to “write for yourselves this song and teach it to the Children of Israel.” This verse provides our 613th commandment calling for each of us to write a Torah during our lifetime. The Talmud teaches that anyone who writes even one letter in a Torah fulfills the commandment of writing a Torah.
Lisa and I had the honor of scribing the very first letter as I represented Temple Beth Sholom’s administrative leadership. Holding onto the special quill while the specially trained Sofer led Lisa and me in filling in our letter, was not only a first-in-a-lifetime experience, but left us with an emotional connection to our new Torah and its timeless message and teachings. We were truly moved by this experience which we will cherish for the rest of our lives.
And a big shout out to our Temple Board of Directors who all volunteered their time and energy throughout the entire day and night to support the event!
We had over 160 people in attendance for the Opening Ceremony from TBS as well as from the other Jewish Temples and from the Interfaith Community. Rabbi Pat Hickman and her husband, Cantor Ray participated representing Temple Israel. Jim Solberg and his colleagues were present, representing our neighbors from the international organization, Bridges for Peace. Barbara Vennman was present representing the Interfaith United Organization of Brevard along with representatives from seven of its different religious organizations who were in attendance. Rabbi Konikov from the Chabad sent his good wishes and Father Zacharias from the Saint Katherine Greek Orthodox Church next door to TBS, even joined us after their services ended. The presence of all these organizations and religious institutions was remarkable as we were able to share this inspiring event with those outside our Temple community.
Of special importance, however, was the tremendous experience our Temple members had with writing our own letters in our new Torah!
This extraordinary mitzvah of writing our very own letters comes from the book of Deuteronomy in which we are commanded to “write for yourselves this song and teach it to the Children of Israel.” This verse provides our 613th commandment calling for each of us to write a Torah during our lifetime. The Talmud teaches that anyone who writes even one letter in a Torah fulfills the commandment of writing a Torah.
Lisa and I had the honor of scribing the very first letter as I represented Temple Beth Sholom’s administrative leadership. Holding onto the special quill while the specially trained Sofer led Lisa and me in filling in our letter, was not only a first-in-a-lifetime experience, but left us with an emotional connection to our new Torah and its timeless message and teachings. We were truly moved by this experience which we will cherish for the rest of our lives.
After our scribing was completed, Rabbi Craig representing our Temple’s Spiritual Leadership along with his family scribed their letter followed by fifty other Temple families who wrote their letters in our new Torah throughout the remainder of the day.
For those of you who are waiting to scribe your letter, we will be starting to take reservations in mid-January for our next scribing date taking place on Sunday, February 20, 2022. So, watch for our Temple announcements on when the link will be available to reserve your scribing time. There is no charge for participating in this wonderful mitzvah!
The Torah Project’s final scribing day will be held on May 15, 2022, followed by the first use of our new Torah during with our celebration of Shavuot on June 5, 2022.
This opportunity to write a Torah is a once in a lifetime event that connects us to the core of our faith and teachings. May our new Torah bring light and learning to us and our TBS Community for many generations to come. We are indeed ….
Preserving our past while writing our future!
L’Shalom on behalf of our Torah Project 613 Committee,
Bill Troner
TBS President
For those of you who are waiting to scribe your letter, we will be starting to take reservations in mid-January for our next scribing date taking place on Sunday, February 20, 2022. So, watch for our Temple announcements on when the link will be available to reserve your scribing time. There is no charge for participating in this wonderful mitzvah!
The Torah Project’s final scribing day will be held on May 15, 2022, followed by the first use of our new Torah during with our celebration of Shavuot on June 5, 2022.
This opportunity to write a Torah is a once in a lifetime event that connects us to the core of our faith and teachings. May our new Torah bring light and learning to us and our TBS Community for many generations to come. We are indeed ….
Preserving our past while writing our future!
L’Shalom on behalf of our Torah Project 613 Committee,
Bill Troner
TBS President