Chabad Center in Merrick unveils new Torah scroll

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In the Jewish faith, a new Torah can only be drafted and deemed kosher if every member of a community contributes, according to Rabbi Shimon Kramer of the Chabad Center for Jewish Life in Merrick.

“If one person is not one hundred percent [involved], it affects the whole Jewish nation,” added his father Rabbi Yitzchok Kramer.

The Chabad Center unveiled its new Torah scroll, sponsored by Bellmorite David Veitsman and his family, in the Merrick Train Station Gazebo on Sept. 17. Kramer said that the Chabad wanted to introduce the Torah right before the holiest holidays in the Jewish tradition, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The Torah was written by professional scribe Rabbi Moshe Klein, who completed the procession by inviting members of the community to take turns filling in the last few lines of the Torah’s text.

“I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to do this,” said Joe Azrak, 58, of Merrick, adding that this was his sixth time participating in the religious rite. The previous five times took place in 1985 at Congregation Shaare Ezra in Jerusalem, where his father Isidor was a rabbi. Azrak said that he wanted to commemorate Isidor, who died in 2001, by participating in the Chabad Center’s procession.

After the Torah was finished and deemed kosher it was placed under a chuppah, or wedding canopy, and the Merrick community marched with it up Merrick Avenue and toward the Chabad Center on Hewlett Avenue.

“The Torah is the holiest object for the Jewish people,” Rabbi Kramer said, explaining that the addition of a new one is celebrated like a wedding. When the Merrick congregants arrived at the Chabad Center, they began to dance around the scroll to celebrate its introduction to the Merrick community.