Dedicated To Torah
Chaye Olam receives a treasured gift.
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer
IV
hen Brooke Colman stepped onto
the bimah as a bat mitzvah on April
3, she did so with the unique
knowledge of how the Torah she
would read from made its way to her synagogue,
Congregation Chaye Olam.
After nearly two years of congregants reading
from Torahs borrowed from other synagogues, a
donation from Brooke's family allowed Chaye
Olam's Cantor Stephen and wife, Christine
Dubov, to go on a unique New York shopping
trip — in search of the new Torah.
"Who ever gets a chance to shop for a Torah?"
Cantor Dubov asked. "Do we look in the New
York phone book and find a "Torahs R Us"
store?"
But they were determined to return to the con-
gregation with a Torah, to
be donated by Brooke's
parents Dr. Andrew and
Debbie Colman of
Bloomfield Hills and
Debbie Colman's mom,
Maxine Stoler of
Farmington Hills. The
Torah would be dedicated
in memory of Stoler's hus-
band Dr. William M.
Stoler and in honor of the
Colman's daughters Jodie,
15, and Brooke, 12.
"I remember my parents
and grandparents traveling
to Israel and bringing
Torahs back to Detroit, to
donate to area synagogues,"
Debbie Colman said. "We wanted to be able to do
the same."
The Dubovs arrived in New York with a phone
number — given to them by Chaye Olam member
Ginger Peal]. of Brighton — of an antique dealer in
Manhattan.
"Since we were in New York City, we decided to
also check out other Torah options," Cantor Dubov
said. "We went down to Essex Street in the "Jewish
section" of the lower east side and actually found a
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2004
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At the dedication of Chaye Olam's new Torah are Herbie Jahr of Southfield, Maxine Stoler of
Farmington Hills, Debbie Colman of Bloomfield Hills, Cantor Stephen Dubov, Dr. Andrew Colman
of Bloomfield Hills and Jay Weiss of Farmington Hills.
Torah store. There, we met a sofer (scribe)
named Rabbi A. M. Eisenbach. He
showed us several Torahs." With the
rabbi, they viewed Torahs of various sizes
and ages, learning much about the
process of Torah shopping.
"Each Torah was written by different scribes and
each had different and distinctive script," Cantor
Dubov said. "Some were more legible than others.
He explained that each sheet of parchment made of
lambskin costs $500 — and that's before he writes
on it."
After looking at many options, they decided to
take a look at a Torah the antique dealer had for
sale. "This Torah is exquisite," Cantor Dubov said.
"After seeing all the other calligraphy on the other
Torahs, we knew thiS was the most ornate and legi-
ble."
Coming To Detroit
Next, the Dubovs had to deal with how to get the
Torah home on the plane.
The two bought an oversized duffle bag on
wheels to transport the treasured purchase. "We still
had an even bigger problem," he said. "The Torah
we got was too large to be considered overhead bag-
gage — and we were not going to put it in the lug-
gage compartment." So they decided to check their
carry-on luggage and bring the duffle on the plane.