OCEANSIDE — Oceanside’s Jewish Community, along with local dignitaries and city officials, will gather at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 9 at the Courtyard Hotel, 3501 Seagate Way in Oceanside, for a historic milestone: the completion and dedication of the new Community Torah Scroll.This celebration will take place just in time for the Jewish New Year High Holidays. The Torah, a 3,300-year-old sacred text containing the Five Books of Moses, is written by hand with a quill pen on a parchment scroll, exactly as in ancient Israel. This is the first Torah written for the Oceanside Jewish Community.
A scribe in Israel was commissioned to write this Torah for the physical and spiritual well being of the community. Families have participated by dedicating a letter, word, or section of the Torah in honor or in memory of loved ones.
The completion of a scroll calls for great celebration welcoming it to its new home – the Holy Ark in the Synagogue. In Jewish tradition, a Torah is greeted as a new bride and groom are celebrated by their families and friends. It is carried under a traditional marriage canopy (chuppah) and accompanied by singing, dancing, and a festive meal. Every community member is an integral part of the celebration — just as a family member is to a wedding.
Participants will help expert scribe Rabbi Dovid Bressman complete the final letters of this magnificent scroll. Special childrens’ activities will include Torah arts and crafts, music, animal balloons and more.
“It’s a humbling feeling to know that our community continues today a 3,300 year-old tradition; writing a text whose timeless lessons have carried our people through their history,” said Rabbi Baruch Greenberg, the director of the Chabad Jewish Center of Oceanside.
For more information, contact Rabbi Baruch Greenberg at (760) 806-7765 or [email protected].
