Rabbi Yosef Kalmanson, director of the Jewish Discovery Center in Mason. File photo
The Jewish community will gather Sunday, Aug. 25 to celebrate the dedication of the first Torah scroll in Mason.
An inaugural ceremony begins at 5 p.m. at the Mason Tech Center at 5155 Financial Way with a procession winding to the Jewish Discovery Center at 7587 Central Parke Blvd.
A Torah is the parchment scroll upon which the five books of Moses (the Hebrew Bible) is handwritten. It is Judaism’s most holy object.
It takes about a year for a specially-trained scribe to write a Torah, which has more than 300,000 letters. If even one letter is missing or incorrect, the entire scroll is invalidated.
The “CommUnity” Torah’s arrival in Mason will be greeted with festive ritual, dancing and singing as a scribe applies the final touches with quill on cowhide. Participants will have the chance to partake in the writing.
A musical procession to the Jewish Discovery Center begins at 5:45 p.m., where the Torah will be formally dedicated, followed by family activities and a barbeque.
Rabbi Yosef Kalmanson, director of the Jewish Discovery Center, said the Torah’s arrival in Mason comes as the Jewish community prepares to celebrate the Jewish High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, which begins Sept. 4.
The Torah’s inauguration marks a “monumental growth” for Judaism in the Mason area, he added.
“The unity Torah brings together the entire Jewish community in the region,” he said.
The Torah is sponsored by the Gabbour family in memory of Charles Gabbour, who died in 2012. The Amberley Village businessman commissioned the Torah in an effort to unite the community, said Kalmanson.
