Historic Torah Scrolls Restoration Project
Shearith Israel owns 49 Torah Scrolls. Of these about a dozen are kosher (fit for ritual use). Our hazzan, Rabbi Ira Rohde, rotates these sifrei Torah so that most of these scrolls remain in active use during the liturgical year.
Some scrolls have fallen into disuse because of relatively minor problems, such as cracked letters. Other problems affecting the kosher status of a Torah are harder to repair, such as fading or discolored letters, flaking ink, or mold accumulation. Many of these scrolls are waiting for expert repairs to be made so that these holy objects can be put back into use. However, there are also a significant number of scrolls that are damaged beyond repair.
Earlier this year, we began a project to assess all of our sifrei Torah and identify if any of our historic scrolls could be repaired and returned to kosher status. Several historic scrolls were identified as repairable.
The scroll that we decided to inaugurate this repair project with is called the “Samuel N. Hart Sefer” which you can read all about in our Commemorative Booklet from our "Travels of the Torah" Year of Years event. It was expertly repaired by Rabbi Hanokh Gez (pictured above) of Machon Ot, under the direction of Rabbi Yizhak Goldstein, and used in a majestic rededication ceremony.
Depending on available funds, additional historic scrolls will be repaired. We hope to work on the Ephraim Hart Sefer next.
We hope that all of you will join us in this important and historic project.
To contribute, click here.
Thank you to our generous sponsors (as of 2/11/20):
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William and JoBeth Abecassis
Nicole and Raanan Agus
Alfandary-Nahon Family
Anthony Bregman & Malaika Amon
Louise Arias
Ceceil & Ariel Bengio
Norman Benzaquen
Esme & Roger Berg
Karyn Braka Bogart
Betty Capelluto Emden
Samuel H. Cohen
Emy Cohenca
Jonathan C Cordeiro
Karen & Jack Daar
Sharon Dane
David Deutscher
Rose & Henry Edinger
Zachary & Malka Edinger
Josh Eisen
Stuart S. Ellman
Faith Fogelman
Estelle Freilich
Laury, Reuben, & Matea Frieber
Simon Gerson
Carol & Arthur Goldberg
Arlette Montezinos Jassel Goldstein
Kaplan/Cycowicz family
Sharon Kessler
Rachel Neumark Herlands & Jonathan Herlands
Susan & Roger Hertog
Adrienne Muriel Zariski & Robert Alan Holzwasser
Suzanne and Norman Javitt
Ellen & Robert Kapito
Vicki & Sam Katz
Edward W. Kerson
Roy & Stephanie Kirsh
Jackie & Andrew Klaber
Stephen & Mona Klaber
David & Marcia Lavipour
Elisabeth Levi Senigaglia
Susan Lobel
Liliane Marks
Dinah & Andrew Mendes
Col. Jonathan de Sola Mendes
Jenny Michael
Ruth and Theodore N. Mirvis
Naomi & Peter Neustadter
James L.J. Nuzzo
Tikva & Irwin Ostrega
Gail Propp & Family (Gomberg, Riesenberg)
Elaine Rubel
Gillian & Simon Salama-Caro
Angela Salas
Iris H. Sasson
Carol and Alan Schechter
Alene Schneierson & Morris Krimolovsky
Judith & Joel Schreiber
William & Esther Schulder
Constance Shapiro
Isaac & Judith Sherman
Robert Sidi
Judith & Marshall Siegel
Luiz Carlos Barreto Silva
Meyer N. Solny
The Solomon Family
Oliver Stanton
Aviva and Marvin Sussman
Cynthia Trop
Robyn & Mark Tsesarsky
Rev. Salomon L. Vaz Dias
Paula Walter
Roselyn Weitzner
Susan Wexner
Susan Wind
Rivka and Marc Wiznia
Charlotte Treifus & Lloyd Zuckerberg
