Our rabbi

For all Jews, Torah provides the foundation for how to lead a good, moral, ethical life and how to get along well in the world. The Torah is our most basic and sacred piece of literature; it is the touchstone of our lives.

For millennia, Jews have honored and revered Torah scrolls, making sure that they are kept in good repair and looking beautiful … as a way to show honor to God. Last winter we began our Torah restoration when Rabbi Moshe Druin (see his website at :<http://www.soferonsite.com/> for more information) came to Temple Habonim for the first time. He assessed our two Torah scrolls for insurance purposes and provided us with an appraisal as to how much repair they needed and how long it would take for him to do the work.
In early August Rabbi Druin spent a week at Temple Habonim working on our two Torah scrolls. His typical day began at about 10:00AM. At about 5:00PM or so, he went to his hotel room for a rest and returned about 7:00PM and remained working until about 3 or 4AM, when he went back to the hotel for a good night?s rest, returning again the following day at about 10 in the morning.

It was a joy to come into the sanctuary each day and see the Torah scrolls spread out on the long working tables. Each morning they would be rolled to a different place, more pages cleaned, more scratched away letters replaced and repaired, more torn and worn seams stitched and taped.

For 5 very full days the sanctuary was filled with the aura of very sacred work being done. During that time, Rabbi Druin was able to completely restore our newer Torah scroll that we use most often. He was able to get a good start on the work needed to restore our Holocaust scroll too. Hopefully, over the coming months, Rabbi Druin will return several more times to complete its restoration. And then in the Spring, perhaps sometime between Passover and Shavuot, we will have a celebration when both scrolls are completely restored.

Temple Habonim is blessed to have members who are willing and able to support special projects which enhance the life of our Temple in many ways. We have an anonymous donor for this Torah project, to whom it was extremely important that our Torah scrolls be repaired and that the work be done right here on premises – without the scrolls being removed from their home. We are extremely grateful for the generosity which allows us to fulfill the important mitzvah of keeping our Torah scrolls in excellent condition.

 

Temple Habonim
165 New Meadow Road
Barrington, RI 02806
401-245-6536
Rabbi: rabbiklein@templehabonim.org
Marjorie: marjorie@templehabonim.org