We have renovated our building, rebuilt our programs, and returned from COVID; now we turn to what was always been the center of all Jewish communities – the Torah. Two of our scrolls, our newest and oldest, including our one rescued from the Holocaust, need our love and attention. Join us, along with renowned Sofer Neil Yerman, as we learn and restore our scrolls through a year-long hands-on process. Our tradition teaches us that it is a responsibility for all Jews to take part in the writing of a Sefer Torah at least once in their life. Now is your opportunity to complete the 613th mitzvah and write the next chapter in Temple Har Shalom’s journey.
Committee Members
Co-Chairs: Janine Silberberg, Justin Silberberg & Alexis Soled
Honorary Chair: Erwin Ganz
Andrea Berez
Darren Blumberg
Donna Connelly
Sharon Epstein
John Goemaat
Eric Harvitt
Steve Nehmer
Ken Neuman
Rachel Ostry
Gregg Paradise
Jon Sandler
Art Scheiner
Wally Schultz
Ken Silbert
Jessica Wang
Jon Wishnia
Rabbi Randi Musnitsky
Cantor Jennifer Benrey
Cantor Emerita Anna Berman
Josh Greenbaum, Executive Director
Lynn Anne Cutler, Director of Congregational Education
It is with great excitement and enthusiasm that we officially invite you to reserve your place at the scribe’s table and physically add your family’s words to our Torah scroll!
Seven months since Rabbi Musnitsky’s call to action during the High Holy Days, and after months of work by our scribe, Sofer Neil Yerman, our Temple Har Shalom Torah Restoration Project, L’Shanah Torah, is officially ready for your helping hand. Both our Czech Holocaust Torah #1524 and our newly dedicated Silberberg Torah are coming home so that we may all physically add our mark to the Silberberg scroll. Rarely can we as individuals and/or families participate in such a sacred mitzvah.
Congregants will now have the opportunity to physically write a letter of text in the restored Silberberg Torah. Writing times will be available in delineated hour-long slots on Sunday, April 30th and Sunday, June 4th from 9:00 AM-5:00 PM each day. Families will be asked to arrive 30 minutes prior to their assigned time slot to ensure there is adequate preparation, instruction, and reflection before you begin the mitzvah. Families will also be asked to remain present with their writing cohort for the entirety of the hour-long session. All sessions will take place at Temple Har Shalom.
Please visit https://www.templeharshalom.org/sofer to select an appropriate day and time that allows full participation for the entirety of the session. All slots will be first come, first served. When registering, please ensure you’re including the total number of family members when registering for the correct number of spots.
To reinforce the teaching of mitzvah goreret mitzvah, “one mitzvah leads to another”, we encourage participating families to make a suggested donation by clicking here, below, or following the link from their confirmation email. Donations will be used to help defray sofer program costs, provide tzedakah to the Czech Memorial Trust Fund (the organization tasked with the guardianship of the 1,700 rescued Holocaust Torah scrolls including one housed in our Ark), as well as support future scholarship opportunities.
To make a donation to help preserve our scrolls and other Judaica, and in honor of adding your own text to the Torah, please click here.
To learn more about the Memorial Scrolls Trust, click here.
For more information on how to get involved, to share your story, or to learn more about our Torahs, please contact Rabbi Musnitsky at rabbimusnitsky@templeharshalom.org or (732) 356-8777.
