Georgina's Jewish community celebrates completion of first-ever Torah scroll

Ritual ceremony, including live music, torches and dancing, takes place at the ROC May 19

Yorkregion.com
May 10, 2022
Heidi Riedner

The Jewish community of Georgina will be completing and welcoming its first-ever Torah scroll -- Judaism's most sacred object -- with a public ceremony at the ROC beginning at 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 19.

An expert ritual scribe will ink the final letters of the sacred scroll, after which it will be taken to the street under a traditional canopy in a procession that will include live music, torches and dancing.

"As our community has grown, it is only appropriate to add a new Torah scroll as an addition to the local community," said Rabbi Yossi Vorovitch, director of Chabad of Georgina, the organization that commissioned the scribe and will be hosting the event.

"The Torah represents the unbroken chain of Jewish tradition and survival," he said.

A mind-boggling masterpiece of labour and skill, an authentic scroll is between 62 and 84 sheets of parchment that have been cured, tanned, scraped and prepared according to exact Torah law specifications, Rabbi Vorovitch explained.

Containing exactly 304,805 letters, the resulting handwritten scroll takes months to complete.

It must pass examination by a certified Torah scribe and everything from the character of the scribe to the quality of the parchment and type of ink are taken into account.

The slightest error voids the entire 54-portion parchment.

Chaya Vorovitch, co director of Chabad of Georgina, said the new Torah scroll is a great cause for celebration.

"The ancient wisdom contained in the scroll is the essence of our identity as Jews."