JULIE WIENER Staff Writer

BILL HANSEN

9/18

1998

24 Detroit Jewish News

Photographer

n Sunday morning, Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah completed the writing of its
new sefer Torah and welcomed the scroll
into its sanctuary. Over 400 people joined
in the celebration.
While a scribe in Israel wrote the vast majority of
the new scroll, he left the final letters hollow and
incomplete so that men in the Beth Yehudah communi-
ty could fulfill the mitzvah of inscribing. Rabbi Avraham
Cohen, a Beth Yehudah teacher nd administrator,
inscribed on behalf of individuals who lacked the training
to do it for themselves.
The new scroll, which was paid for by Sara York, will be
used for Torah readings in services. While Cohen would not
disclose the cost of this sefer Torah, he noted that they general-
ly cost "in the vicinity of $30,000." The yeshiva also owns five
other sifrei Torah which were taken for the celebration, but they
are older and not as good for everyday use, said Cohen. Ei