LAWRENCE, Kan. — History is being made for the Jewish community at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.
Hundreds of KU alumni, students, parents and friends came together Sunday to inscribe letters in a Torah scroll — something that’s never happened before in the history of KU and Lawrence.
“We’re fulfilling that mitzvah of creating a Torah that will be used not just when we’re here, but long afterwards,” said David Greenbaum, who attended the historic event.
“It’s kind of like a once in a lifetime opportunity,” said KU student, Rebeka Luttinger.
Dozens of people came out for the launch of the brand new Torah; a historic event for the KU community.
“In Jewish tradition, every Jewish community needs a Torah scroll to serve as the engine for that community,” said Rabbi Zalman Tiechtel.
Rabbi Tiechtel says the Torah is the heart and soul of the Jewish community.
“Torah scroll is a huge task,” Rabbi Tiechtel added. “It takes over a year to write the Torah scroll, there’s more than 300,000 letters.”
He says it’s a mitzvah, or good deed, for every Jewish person to write a Torah scroll, but that’s just not practical. it’s very expensive, and you have to be specially trained. That’s why a scribe all the way from Israel came in.
“If one letter is a little bit off, a little bit smudged, or a little bit curved, the entire scroll is null and void,” said Rabbi Tiechtel. “So when you purchase a letter in the Torah, it’s the best deal, it’s as if you wrote the entire scroll!”
Every person that wanted to participate did just that.
“Every KU student, every member of the community can leave their mark, and make this our Torah,” said Greenbaum, who purchased an entire portion of the Torah, called Noah.
He says this was a way to honor his father who passed away 11 years ago, and the anniversary of his death always happens during the Torah portion of Noah.
“I have a much stronger relationship to this particular Torah, I know that every week that we come and read it, a part of this Torah is a part of my family,” added Greenbaum.
Rabbi Tiechtel says each person writing letters in the Torah is a link to a chain, a chain uniting the KU Jewish community.
“Every person that writes in the Torah, the Torah becomes a part of us,” said Luttinger.
The Torah will go back to Israel, where the scribe will continue writing. It will be coming back and forth in the next few months to allow people in the community to write letters. In seven months, the KU and Lawrence Jewish community will celebrate finally having its own Torah.
The Rabbi says KU is a very diverse, multicultural community, and the Jewish community at KU has been growing tremendously over the years. In fact, the Rabbi says Lawrence currently has largest Jewish community it’s ever seen.
