Fairbanks Jewish congregation celebrates restoration of 100-year-old Torah
Published Sunday, October 4, 2009
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FAIRBANKS — Just before the Jewish High Holy Days in September, seven members of Congregation Or HaTzafon had the unique privilege of inking a multi-pronged crown over one of seven letters in the Torah, containing the Five Books of Moses.
As each person took their turn marking the scroll with a fine-tipped, feathered quill dipped in a special black ink, their hand was guided by New York sofer Neil Yerman, a trained Torah scribe.
“These elaborate crowns are unique, and you will not see them in any other Torah in the world,” acting Rabbi Elyssa Auster said.
In April, the Jewish congregation entrusted its Torah to Yerman, sending it to the East Coast for some much-needed restoration work.
Yerman personally returned the Torah last month, just in time for the start of the High Holy Days.
The seven letters embellished with crowns were located above the “Song of the Sea” in the book of Exodus.
The song was sung by Moses and the children of Israel after they crossed the Sea of Reeds (Red Sea), Auster said, pointing out that the Hebrew words in that section of the Torah are arranged in a block format to represent the bricks of the pyramids the Israelites built or the stepping stones they trod to freedom through the parted water.
The Torah is central to Jewish congregations.
“The Torah is the word of God. It’s Jewish law. It’s our history,” said Auster, who is in her fifth year of rabbinical studies at Hebrew College in Newton, Mass.
The Torah is written in Hebrew by hand on calfskin with connecting pages sewn together with animal sinew and attached at either end to smooth wooden spindles, called “atzei chaim” in Hebrew, which means “trees of life.” The Torah is considered the tree of life, Auster said.
“The Torah is like a living, breathing soul, and we care for it like a human being.”
At services when the Torah is uncovered, the congregation rises, and as the rabbi or service leader walks around the sanctuary with it, people touch the corner of their prayer shawl or their prayer book to the Torah, then kiss it, Auster said.
“Teaching and learning is extremely important in Judaism,” explained Auster, “and that requires study of the texts and the Torah.”
Or HaTzafon’s Torah was donated in 1991 by Congregation B’nai Abraham of Portsmouth, Ohio, and it comprises the Five Books of Moses — Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
Torahs are made traditionally, from the skins of kosher animals — calf, sheep, goats or deer.
Sofer Yerman said Or HaTzafon’s Torah is of Russian origin and estimates it is about 100 years old.
When not in use at services, the scroll is carefully rolled and encased in a richly embroidered velvet covering and stored in an ark made of golden oak. The ark is a sacred repository or container.
The ark was built in the traditional manner by Or HaTzafon member Vern Kennedy and was assembled without nails.
Also stored in the ark is a smaller Torah left to the congregation by a military member. Sofer Yerman determined that Torah is also of Russian origin and is approximately 250 years old.
The Hebrew script on the smaller scroll is much lighter than the prescribed black ink, which is a clue to its origin.
Yerman said in the Russian tradition, sofers add honey to the complex traditional ink mixture, since “The words of Torah are like honey in your mouth.”
Next Saturday, the 70-family member Congregation Or HaTzafon, which means “Light of the North,” will again celebrate the return of their holy scroll on the final High Holy Day service, Simchat Torah.
They will finish the last portion of Deuteronomy and roll the Torah back to its start and begin reading Genesis again.
Then worshipers will celebrate repeating the Torah reading cycle by dancing and singing with the Torah around the synagogue.
Community Discussion
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I'm just wondering if anyone knows the significance of the crowns or why the Congregation's Torah is unique for having them. The story never explains either of those points. Thanks.
Nice story! I didn't know some of this information.
That's really great! I, also, would like to know why the crowns were added and why only here.
Have you heard about the new Yiddish opera? It's called "Oy Veh Maria!"
Nice story. Fairbanks is the real heart of Alaska for non-Natives. Any person who has not wintered there has not experienced Alaska.
Happy New Year, Frozen Chosen. You, too, Judy and Andy.
Frozen Chosen - funny!
Lovely makes me proud to be Jewish. =) Note that there are two forms or versions of some letters. ... When it is pronounced "oh", pointed texts have a dot on top. ... there is a special writing style with "crowns"
Is there anyone named Rosen in the congregation? Because that would make them...
(I apologize in advance...)
A "Frozen Chosen Rosen."
(See what happens when you grow up reading Mad Magazine?)
the crowns are like king's crowns. the idea is that the torah scrolls are something incredibly royal, special, significant, beyond holy. often they have bells or other metallic attachments so that as the scrolls are carried around the synogogue, they attract your attention. incidentally, these are Ashkenazic scrolls. Sephardic scrolls are encased in wooden box-like holders, and as such, are heavier and bulkier to deal with and don't quite have the same crowns as these have. Similar, but not exactly. But most places you will find in the US are Ashkenazic (ie Germanic), so they use this type of scroll.
in any case, mazel tov to Or Ha'Tzafon. a lovely story.
THE FARTHEST NORTH TEMPLE! ALRIGHT!
TAC- you forgot the 'berg'.
This schlemiel(sp?) cries hoy vey/mazel tov to all involved.
I'm curious as to what the crowns mean. Pinhead/rotchick- you're supposed to read it backwards right to left, right? Can someone post the English text version of the words in the photo so we can understand the reference?
OMG, you are pushing my vision capabilities here. No, wait, when I clicked on the photo for a closer look, the DNM had done my work for me -- but I am not too happy with the outcome. The translation is "This is the song that Moses and the children of Israel sing to G od". But the reason why I do not write the lord's name (ie the tetragramaton) as a non-Jew might is because in Judaism we neither say it, nor print it in unholy locations like, say, a newspaper. Because people might use the newspaper for reasons like, oh, I don't know, lining the birdcage. Or they might throw the paper out even, G od forbid. This is why there is a place called a geniza -- anything that ever had G pd's name on it -- this newspaper included -- would be put there, and buried.
OK, DNM, not your fault, you probably didn't know. And your photographer didn't know. As for the acting rabbi, well, she should have caught this.
The DNM is not under obligation of Jewish law
to leave out the "o" in God. So the rabbi had
nothing to do with it.
Pinhead: Thanks for the additional details.
ArcticWriter,
First off, I wish to repeat that this is a wonderful story and that I don't wish for the intent of publishing it to be lost. I am very fond of this congregation, and want to be clear on that score.
But I believe that you misunderstood me. I'll be more clear: In the Torah (all of them, not just the one in this article), the name of G od appears in Hebrew numerous times. The rabbi knows that this word should NEVER be photographed according to our tradition. Or at least, I think she knows this. I certainly know it, and I am not a rabbi.
Be that as it may, it's water under the bridge. No, the DNM couldn't have known, nor could Eric Engman. We all have our beliefs, values, etc., and these vary from culture to culture. As I said a long while back in a different string, part of being a minority is politely trying to teach others about how we are different. That is what I am trying to do here. The upshot is that no, the DNM could not have known. You can only know what those who do know tell you. Or in this case, you can't know if they fail to tell you.
I know MB Smetzer personally, and yes, I know the rabbi as well. And yes, I can tell you who dropped the ball here.
Enough said.
btw, there are two types of crowns here, those that top the Hebrew letters (as seen in the photo) and those I addressed above that are made of silver and that top the scrolls. sorry if I confused anyone when I mentioned the bells and all that. I was referring to how the scrolls in their entirety are considered royal, inside and out....
חַג שָֹמֵחַ.
Curmudgeon, you grew up reading Mad Magazine? Explains why you spend so much time in the News-Miner's online comments: you grew up reading "the usual gang of idiots"!
carstars -- gam l'cha.
Rex: I think you're on to me.
I'll probably never have the good fortune and pleasure to visit Fairbanks, but I do live in Portsmouth, Ohio, and know some of the good folks of the Congregation B’nai Abraham, so I found this story to be one that transcends plain news reporting. It was interesting and informative, but led to that kind of connection with people and places that one usually attributes to really good fiction. You know the people and care about them after reading their story. Thanks.
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