‘From Israel with a Blessing’

In celebration of the 15th anniversary of the Chabad Lubavitch Center of the Eastern Shore in Maryland, three ornately lettered Seder Torah scrolls from Israel were presented in a festive atmosphere with singing, dancing and dinner.

The event began with guests having the opportunity to write a letter in the Torah, followed by dancing, said Rabbi Noam Cohen of the Ocean City-based Chabad Lubavitch Center.

Each Torah took more than one year to write in Hebrew letters that are ornate and artistic.

“It is very special and holy,” Cohen said.

The Torah, or Jewish Bible, is composed of the first five books of the biblical Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

The Hebrew name Chabad is an acronym for chochmah, binah and da’at, meaning wisdom, understanding and knowledge.

“Those three words represent wisdom. You shouldn’t just do it because your parents did it, because your parents follow a religion. You should try to understand. This way you’ll be connected,” the rabbi said.

Chabad is the largest Jewish movement in the world, said Cohen, an Ocean City resident for 15 years. The center is not connected with Temple Bat Yam on Worcester Highway near Berlin because the Chabad Center is Orthodox, the strictest and still the largest Jewish movement. Temple Bat Yam is a Reform synagogue.

Receiving the Seder Torahs from Israel was an honorable event not only for Ocean City, but for anywhere in the world, the rabbi said.

“Nowhere in the world are people getting three Torahs at the same time, especially for a small town like Ocean City. I never heard of it. That’s why so many rabbis were attending,” he said.

“Last year we were looking to open a new synagogue so we would need some new Torahs. We spoke to people; maybe people will donate one. Then two families from Ocean City donated the Torahs. A family from Israel donated the third one. All three of them came from Israel,” he said.

At Jewish services, the rabbi reads from a Torah scroll and the scrolls are shared by the congregation. “Everybody is listening. Obviously there are many blessings from listening to the reading of the Bible,” he said.

He described a mass-produced Torah like those kept in the home as “a book of papers,” far different from the painstakingly hand-lettered scrolls at synagogues.

At the reception for the Torahs, the scrolls were on display and the faithful had the opportunity to hold them and participate in Jewish dancing, then join for dinner.

“It is basically a new beginning, a new celebration for the center here in Ocean City,” Cohen said. Receipt of the torahs is in anticipation of a new Jewish orthodox synagogue, planned for construction on 55th Street in the resort. Until it is complete, members are meeting in the rabbi’s Ocean City home.

“The synagogue will provide all the Jewish needs for all people who have any religious needs. We will have services and we will have reading of the Bible. These torahs are very expensive so it was a big party and very special coming from Israel,” the rabbi said. The Seder Torah presentation drew rabbis from Delaware, Virginia, Maryland, New York and Israel.

“When you write the Bible in Israel, it has a special holiness, a much higher holiness than the regular Bible. We got it from Israel with a blessing,” the rabbi said.