Rabbi's Blog

TI Community,
​​​​​​​
Hopefully by now most of you have read the July Menorah. As always we thank Jessica Weissman for the many hours she puts in volunteering to make it an informative mouthpiece of our congregation. She also continues to encourage individuals to submit personal reflections and other articles to help our TI community shine out to each other. Thanks also go to the staff and lay leaders that submit materials to Jessica and to our proofreaders who try keep it as error free as possible.

Hopefully you have checked it all out (and can do so by clicking here) but I want to draw attention to my article this month. As you saw, there was an incident a bit ago where a Torah fell during one of our services. In the article, I laid out the response we, as a community, will be taking. There will be a three pronged approach of fasting, contributing tzedakah, and learning. These are all traditional ways to respond to a Torah falling on the floor.

Here’s how you can be involved:
     1.  Be a part of the members of the community who are fasting. Sign up to fast by clicking here. The fast is a daytime fast. It is from sun up to the end of the day. One could get up and have an early breakfast before sunrise and then conclude the day with a late dinner. Each day is different but today sunrise was at 5:53 am and nightfall was 9:06. Over the next couple of weeks, sunrise will get later and nightfall will be earlier.
     2.  Both, as a result of the fall, and regular wear and tear, our Torahs and other ritual objects often need repair. We have a Torah Repair Fund which helps to support these expenditures but it needs to be replenished regularly. You’ll see in the next item that we are bringing in a Soferet to help repair this Torah and to share some Torah education with us. We need financial support to be able to do this. Please click here to visit the donation page on the TI website and select to make a gift to the Torah Repair Fund to make your contribution.
     3.  July 28th at 10:30-12:00 we will learn from Soferet Alexandra Casser and participate with her in repairing the Torah. She will reaffix the parchment to the Etz Hayim (the rollers) and will share with us a teaching about the writing and maintenance of Torah scrolls. Click here to sign up for this unique experience.

Please join us in whatever way is most meaningful for you and contact me (mwerbow@tifereth-israel.org) if you have any questions.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Werbow