London Borough Welcomes New Torah

Hundreds of Jews took to the streets to celebrate the arrival of a new Torah scroll in Buckhurst Hill, a suburb of London, UK.

Live music, dancing and cheering could be heard for miles around as members of the Chabad Jewish Centre marched through Buckhurst Hill.

Rabbi Odom Brandman described the event as momentous for the Jewish community.

He said: “To understand the excitement of dedicating a new Torah, think along the lines of Hailey’s Comet and Flights to the Moon.

“While publishers can knock out millions of copies with dozens of new titles a week, crafting a single torah scroll takes over a year to complete. Each of the 304,808 letters and notation must be scripted to perfection. The slightest error voids the entire 54-portion parchment.”

The scroll was written in Israel, but the last 200 letters were left incomplete so that a scribe here, with the help of members of the local community, could complete it.

Jews of all ages joined a ceremony at the Brandman family home and enjoyed the privilege of helping the scribe complete one of the closing letters of the scroll.

The scroll was donated by Paul and Martine Groman-Marks in memory of Paul’s late father Jack.