Chabad Synagogue Celebrates its Torah
A new Torah was dedicated, to the joy of a Chabad’s Orthodox members, who paraded down a Hollywood street to celebrate.
Hollywood, FL — Yardwork stopped for a few moments late Sunday afternoon as homeowners stood on their front lawns to watch the procession walking down the street in their Hollywood Lakes neighborhood.
What drew their attention was the crowd of 100 or so who were dancing and waving flags as joyful music played from the back of a truck that carried a new Torah belonging to Chabad of NE Hollywood/Dania.
Members of the Orthodox shul had a portion of North 14th Avenue closed off to traffic for their parade, which was dedicated the sacred scroll.
”This is a big mitzvah,” said Nechama Tennenhaus, wife of the congregation’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Mendy Tennenhaus.
She was referring to the congregation being able to fulfill one of the Jewish commandments, which asks every Jew to write a Torah, or have one written for them.
For members of Chabad of NE Hollywood/Dania, also known as Shul of the Lakes, that meant hiring a Torah scribe from Israel, known as a sofer. The dedication marked the end of a yearlong process where each page was written by hand using special ink, quills and parchment in accordance with Jewish law.
Before taking their new Torah into the street, final touches were added to the scroll at ceremonies inside the Hollywood Women’s Club at 501 N. 14th Ave., where the synagogue conducts its services.
As part of the event, sponsors were asked to join the scribe at a table where each added a letter to the last verse in the Torah, containing the five Books of Moses.
One by one, each person took his turn, walking up to the table where the scroll sat unfurled on top of a red velvet cloth bordered with small gold tassels.
Marcel Calef of Hollywood said it was fitting that the sofer guided the quill in his hand to trace the letter “L.”
”It is the first letter of our son’s name, Leon,” said Calef, who came to the ceremony with his wife, Claudia, and their child, 11 months old.
The Torah was given to the shul by four siblings: Esther Zayczek and Ruth Tencer of Aventura, Gideon Chen of Israel, and Abraham Hen of New York.
The scroll was dedicated in memory of their parents, Yehuda and Rachel Chen, and their grandparents, David and Masouda Vanunu.
Before Rachel Chen died last year, granddaughter Amit Bloom said Chen had asked the family to find a synagogue that needed a Torah and that a portion of her estate be set aside to hire a scribe.
Zayczek, Bloom’s mother, was led to Chabad of NE Hollywood/Dania through the rabbi at the orthodox shul she attends in Golden Beach.
Zayczek was told the Hollywood congregation had to borrow a scroll for their services every Friday evening, Bloom said — that is, before they received their new Torah.
”My Grandmother Rachel grew up in a very religious home,” said Bloom, of Aventura. “She believed one of the most righteous deeds you can do is to dedicate a Torah so a congregation can fulfill their obligation as practicing Jews.”
