Handwritten Torah finished in Poughkeepsie

About 200 people from different Jewish congregations and affiliations turned out Sunday in Poughkeepsie to witness the completion of a handwritten Torah scroll.

They saw a rabbi from Montreal, Canada write the last of the 600,000 characters in Hebrew letters for the Mid-Hudson Valley Community Torah.

A police escort then led the Torah on a parade through Poughkeepsie’s business district to the Chabad House where a celebration was held.

Hindy Borenstein of the Chabad House said the Torah, written on parchment, is the same unaltered text for thousands of years, regardless of Jewish affiliation.