Restoring Torah in Thornhill once-in-a-lifetime experience

It’s a year-long project at Temple Kol Ami

Yorkregion.com
April 6, 2014
By Simone Joseph

Paula Haras has never worn a Jewish prayers shawl (tallis) or helped restore a Torah.

But, today, she did both.

Ms Haras was at Thornhill’s Temple Kol Ami today as part of a year-long project to restore three of the reform synagogue’s Torah scrolls.

Ms Haras was able to write a letter - the Hebrew letter ‘shin’ - in the Torah - a Jewish holy book.

”It felt very comforting. It brought back a feeling of confidence in Judaism,” she said.

Getting to write the particular Hebrew letter was especially meaningful for her because the letter “S” in Hebrew is the first letter in the word shalom, meaning peace. It made her think of how lucky she and other Jewish people are to still be around after facing anti-semitism and to have survived persecution.

Ms Haras donned a prayer shawl for the first time because the importance of today’s event.

“I wanted to wear it, I wanted to make a connection for this special honour,” she said.

The Torah being restored today is a 150-year-old Czech scroll. Another Torah being restored by the synagogue is Russian and the third is a 250-year-old scroll that survived the Holocaust and was rescued from Brno, Czech Republic. It was donated by the Czech Memorial Trust in London.

“It was nice sharing a mitzvah (good deed) with you,” Wayne Haymer, another participant, told Ms Haras after they had both written in the Torah.

Mr. Haymer found the experience of writing in the Torah very moving, he said.

“It is a real mitzvah to do our duty to keep our Torah scrolls going. They will be here long after I am gone,” he said.

But with his joy, he also felt anxiety.

“I was worried I might mess up,” he said.

Thankfully, he soon realized he and the quill in his hand were not alone.

“He (the restorer) was doing the work. My hand was over his. He was guiding the quill. He was telling me which direction to move in,” Mr. Haymer said.

Participating in restoring a Torah is usually a one-time opportunity in a Jewish person’s life.

For Tal Schierau, president of Temple Kol Ami, watching people from the community do their part to restore the Torahs was heartening.

”The synagogue community is like a family. It is great to see everyone come together to do this as a family,” he said.

More than $30,000 has been raised by synagogue members and non-members for the year-long restoration project.

This is a project whose benefit will be felt for years to come, he said.

“Torahs get worn. This is a project for future generations, to continue using the scrolls.”

Both members and non-members will have another chance to help restore one of the three Torahs in June. For a $72 donation or more you can write in the Torah and take part in this restoration.

For more information on Temple Kol Ami or to contribute to this project, call 905-709-2620.