The Journal News
June 15, 2004
Several senior members of the Jewish Community Center of Spring
Valley could not help tearing up yesterday morning as they huddled
around an old friend to say goodbye.
Joseph Werk, a congregant for half of the JCC's 75-year history,
held a Torah scroll to his chest, while others stepped down
from the bimah, the pulpit, to take pictures.
"This is very emotional for us," Werk said. "It's
sad, but this Torah is going for a good cause."
The Torah will be among six that will be handed down next week
to Jewish communities in the former Soviet Union. Many such
communities have been slowly reviving Jewish practice after
a half century of oppression, but have lacked a central element:
a Torah scroll bearing the Five Books of Moses, handwritten
on parchment.
A Jewish women's group called Project Kesher, which has been
working for a decade to help reawaken Judaism in the former
Soviet states, will hand deliver the Torahs to Jewish women
who are leaders in their fledgling communities.
The JCC of Spring Valley, a Conservative congregation in an
increasingly Orthodox community, expects to close in several
months because of declining membership. Project Kesher was only
too happy to find a new home for one of the congregation's Torahs.
"I hope you take great pride in knowing that your Torah
is going to a community where there has been a tremendous rebirth
of Jewish life," Sheila Friedland of White Plains, the
national chairwoman of Project Kesher (Hebrew for "connection"),
told 19 congregants at a short ceremony to pass the Torah.
The Spring Valley Torah is heading to Oryol, Russia, an industrial
city of 340,000 that was founded during the early 14th century.
A woman named Tatiana Ponamaryova, who rediscovered her Jewish
roots at a Project Kesher retreat in 1995, will take the Torah
home.
And it is going home. A Torah scribe who recently touched up
the scroll, since Torahs must be in perfect condition to be
used in services, determined that it was written in Russia.
"This is our enduring legacy to our brothers and sisters
around the world," said Moses Weintraub, who heads the
JCC's ritual committee.
On Monday, 220 Project Kesher members — 130 from the United
States and 90 from former Soviet states — will begin a
weeklong voyage down the Volga River in Russia. Thirty-five
interpreters will be on hand to foster conversation on issues
affecting Jewish women in former Soviet states.
Project Kesher helps women's groups in Eastern Europe fight
domestic violence and the trafficking of women for prostitution.
It also has opened 15 computer training centers and offers loans
for small businesses.
It is on the trip that the six Torahs will change hands.
"It is amazing that people are going out of their way
to find Torahs for communities they know nothing about,"
said Rabbi Abby Sosland, who teaches at the Solomon Schechter
School of Westchester in Hartsdale.
Sosland was among several Project Kesher members who visited
the Arcade Color Copy Center in Scarsdale last week for an unusual
ritual: to see two of the Torahs wrapped for their long journey.
David Emmer, owner of the center, volunteered his well-honed
wrapping skills.
"It's an honor," he said. "They're doing a real
mitzvah."
One of the two Torahs, saved from Czechoslovakia after the
Holocaust, was donated by a prayer group in Teaneck, N.J., to
Project Kesher. It will go to Volgagrad, Russia, formerly Stalingrad.
The other was donated by a synagogue in Bucks County, Pa.,
and will head to Ulyanovsk, Russia.
"It is important that we focus on Jews in other parts
of the world, in addition to Israel," said Joanne Landau
of Croton-on-Hudson, who is shepherding the Bucks County Torah
on its trip.
Project Kesher requires that the Torahs be kept in a sacred
place and be accessible to all Jews. It also tries to teach
reborn Jewish communities the concept of "tikkun olam"
or repairing the world through good works.
"Even small communities can learn that part of their responsibility
is to give back," said Karen Bloom of New Rochelle, director
of organizational development for Project Kesher.
Of the three other Torahs being delivered by Project Kesher,
one was donated by a tiny synagogue in Helena, Ark., and will
go to Vinnitsa, Ukraine; a second was donated by 90-year-old
Sandra Brand of Manhattan, a Holocaust survivor, and will settle
in Bobruisk, Belarus; and the third was provided by a group
of women in New York City and will go to Harkov, Ukraine.
After the two Torahs were wrapped in Scarsdale, the group asked
Sosland to say a blessing over the scrolls.
"The Torahs do not need my blessing," she said. "Your
journey needs my blessing."
With the two Torahs sealed tight in bubbles and nestled in
duffel bags, Sosland said a short blessing for travel.
Reach Gary Stern at
gstern@thejournalnews.com
or 914-694-3513.
Back to top
