About 100 students and community members joined a musical procession Sunday to celebrate the completion of a hand-written Torah.
In Jewish tradition, adding a new Torah, a religious text, to a community is an extremely special occasion, similar to a wedding, bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah, said Chanie Goldman, the co-director of the Lubavitch Chabad Jewish Center. The center’s fifth Torah was carried under a canopy as members of the place of worship, located at 2021 NW Fifth Ave., sang and danced in celebration.
“The Torah is synonymous with the continuity and longevity of our people,” she said. “It’s like we’re celebrating our fifth child.”
The scroll was dedicated in honor of the late Rabbi Menachem Schneersohon, an influential jewish leader known by many as The Rebbe, Goldman said.
It typically takes a year for a Sofer, a specially trained scribe, to write an entire Torah by hand with quill and ink, according to the Chabad website. The scripture is complete with more than 300,000 letters.
In addition to singing, dancing and listening to speakers, those who attended the ceremony had the opportunity to have a letter of the new Torah dedicated in their honor.
“Each letter in the Torah... represents each human being,” Gold- man said. “Although each letter is different, as each person is different, they’re all bound together in the same book.”
Chelsea Pincus, a UF communications and health science senior, said she visits Chabad for every shabbat, a Friday night dinner and religious service, and tries to help out around the center as much as she can.
“It’s great to see role models and older people dedicating their time to grow Judaism on campus,” Pincus, 21, said.
Maia Groman said Sunday was the first time she was able to experience a Torah dedication in Gainesville, and the event was exciting for everyone at the center.
“It’s a time for the community to get together and celebrate our heritage,” said the 19-year-old UF advertising sophomore.
Groman, who visits the center three to six times a week, said members of the center have leaned on each other since Michael Dewitz appeared on Turlington Plaza wearing a swastika armband last week.
“It’s definitely brought the community together, but we’ve always been strong, and we always will be,” she said.
Dewitz’s presence sparked a four-hour protest on campus, with about dozens of students express- ing support for Jewish community members and scorn for the anti- Semitic emblem.
“It showed all of us how much support we have in our community and from the university, which was really an amazing thing to see,” Groman said.
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Members of the Lubavitch Chabad Jewish Center dance in celebration. The center welcomed its fifth Torah Sunday.