Community

Spirituality

Pho tos by Joshua Kristal

Sefer Torah,
Safer World

Sukkot at The Shul takes on added meaning
in the wake of terrorist attacks.

SHELL' LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Sta Writer

n Oct. 7 Sukkot program
at the future site of The
Shul in West Bloomfield
also became a ceremony
initiating the writing of a Torah scroll
in memory of victims of the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks.
The festivities began as a combined
celebration of Sukkot and the comple-
tion of the first level of The Shul, a
Chabad-Lubavitch synagogue taking
shape on the Synagogue Campus of
Living Judaism in West Bloomfield.
When done, the synagogue will meas-
ure 18,000 square feet.
The synagogue currently holds
Shabbat and holiday services. It runs a
youth club, classes and monthly Friday
night dinners at a temporary West
Bloomfield site.
The plan for the writing of the
Torah originated at a Sept. 11 golf
outing sponsored by The Shul. As
golfers arrived at the course that day
and learned of the attacks, the outing
became a prayer service and discussion
that led to the suggestion.
"A new Torah will bring spiritual
light into the world with its eternal
message of truth and morality," says
Rabbi Kasriel Shemtov, who with his
wife, Itty, directs The Shul.
"We have seen evil and ugliness and
we have to respond by affirming life,
with the Torah guiding us to create a
safe and peaceful future," Rabbi
Shemtov says.
The Torah writing project, named
"A Sefer Torah, A Safer World," is in
the planning stages. It will offer com-
munity members the opportunity to
dedicate a letter or verse to be hand-
written into the Torah scroll, an honor
Rabbi Shemtov calls one of the highest
a Jewish person can receive.
The hope is that the regular readings
of the Torah will act as an ongoing
tribute to those lost in the attacks. El

Clockwise from top left:
Elliott and Denise Baum
of Franklin receive an
honorary Torah.

Guests listen to an
announcement of the plan
to have the Torah scroll written.

Diane Adler of
West Bloomfield recites
the blessing over the lulav and
etrog with Yaakov Citrin of
Farmington Hills.

Ariel Adler of Farmington Hills
and Ian Wendrow of West
Bloomfield, both 7, dance with
a group of celebrants outside the
future building of The Shul. •

The first level of construction
of The Shul.

10/19
2001

57