The scroll, donated by the Sarah Brand Torah Project, was dedicated in a ceremony this spring.
It is estimated to be more than 100 years old. It has traveled many miles, having come from Europe to serve the Jewish community of Titusville, Pa. (site of the United States' first oil well) and later moving to nearby Oil City (where it was sustained until recently). And on Sunday, March 30, this Torah scroll, donated to the Haverford community by the Sandra Brand Torah Project, was dedicated in a bi-college ceremony on Haverford's campus.
“It bridges Jewish students at Haverford with American Jewish communities from over 100 years ago,” says ceremony co-organizer Ben Zussman '08 of the scroll, a handwritten parchment of approximately 300,000 letters containing the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.“As a student, it is powerful to know that the College, and especially the Tri-Co Chabad, are here, willing and ready to make such sincere investments in Jewish students and Jewish life.”
The ceremony consisted of several parts. First, students assisted in completing the writing of the scroll, using a feather quill and natural ink, aided by a trained and certified scribe. Faculty and administration officials went on to inscribe the final letters.
Once the ink had dried, Professor Aryeh Kosman gave a talk on the history of the Torah dedication ceremony. Later, Rabbi Eli Gurevitz of Tri-Co Chabad told the story of Sandra Brand, who lost her husband and child to the Holocaust during WWII and eventually fled to the U.S., where, according to Rabbi Gurevitz,“She then decided that she would do everything she could so that Jews would not have to live the way she did in those years of war. People should be allowed to be proud of their tradition, proud of their heritage and proud of their Torah.” She established the Torah Project to donate scrolls to centers serving campuses that lack Torahs of their own.
Finally, the Torah was raised and covered in traditional fashion and celebrated with dancing and a traditional musical procession to Ryan Gym, followed by a kosher dinner. The scroll will be cared for by the Tri-Co Chabad House and used in its monthly services.
“It is my sincere hope, as an outgoing senior, that this Torah scroll will continue to be utilized frequently and with great love by the Haverford community,” says Zussman.
