Editor's Letter A Holy Gift A Sefer Torah — God's words — is an unusual gift. So when one congregation extends this gift to another, the dynamic is something special. Many congregations worldwide lack a Torah they can call their own. Like Ohel HaChidusch, a Berlin chavurah begun in 2007. The 50-member congregation, affiliated with the Renewal movement, celebrates Shabbat and holidays. It stresses learning and spiri- tuality. The Berlin Jewish community includes many broken families and many families outside mainstream Judaism. Ohel HaChidusch serves four gen- erations. The first Ohel HaChidusch Congress described its mission: "A form of Judaism that is not only beau- tiful, established and traditional, but also an active and renewing force in our lives, in the lives of our Jewish communities as well as in the societies in which we live." Emotions peaked at Shir Tikvah in Troy following Havdalah services on Dec. 13. Ohel HaChidusch Cantor Jalda Rebling traveled from Germany to accept the gift of a spare Torah from Shir Tikvah, a Reform-Renewal congregation of 340 families. Rebling slowly left the sanctuary with the Torah as Shir Tikvah congregants sang, "T'filat HaDerech" — "May you be blessed as you go on your way..." That moment during an evening of high points for the 25-year-old Troy congregation reinforced what Jews already know. As wonderful as it is to receive, it's even better to give. century Eastern European congregation holds real promise. It sure does. That's why Holocaust survivors from Shir Tikvah pre- sented the Torah to Cantor Rebling. The 12-pound Sefer Torah requires some restoration but is readable. Its odyssey will be complete as it returns to its Eastern European roots and is used for study and for reading. It will be housed in a portable Aron Hakodesh custom built by Anna Adam, Ohel HaChidusch's board chair and an artist. A Wider Reach A few days after Shir Tikvah's momentous evening, Sleutelberg reflected on the sacred gift to Ohel HaChidusch, part of Europe's growing Renewal network. "Now that there's a resurgent Jewish community in Eastern Europe, even in Germany's capital, it is fitting that we return a Torah there in a clarion call proclaiming that Am Yisrael Chai, the People of Israel lives',' Sleutelberg told the IN. Congregations with multiple Torahs but limited uses for them should reconsider. Is taking them out and displaying them dur- ing Kol Nidre on Yom Kippur enough? Wouldn't God be better served by making a seldom-used Torah more available? Cantor Rebling wrote in her application that "a Torah that is not used for her purpose is a very sad one." A Torah is a living document of the Jewish people. So it's not far-fetched to think a Torah has feelings, at least in a metaphysical sense. It's sad that scrolls are unwit- • tingly saved when so many con- gregations are wanting. This need is easily addressed as Shir Tikvah ▪ discovered. Rabbi Sleutelberg joyfully offers his counsel to any congregation wishing to donate a Torah. Power Of Giving It was an evening of high points for Hope-Filled Shir Tikvah — a new Holy Ark of Ohel HaChidusch, Hebrew for Tent the Covenant, a new Eternal Light, of Renewal, is still in its formative a new bimah and the newly scribed stages. So it didn't have enough Blumenstein Family Torah. But giv- members or dollars to buy a Torah. ing away a Torah was the highest Cantor Rebling at Shir Tikvah with her "For us:' Cantor Rebling wrote Shir point of all. chavurah's new Torah Tikvah, "your offer is a great possi- What began as a test project was bility to try to get one!' so successful that other congrega- I loved how she put it in seeking to clinch the gift: "If we tions with a Torah to spare should take heed in what Shir would be the happy community who gets it, we will, as soon Tikvah did for a small group of German Jews without their as we can, buy our own Sefer Torah and offer the Shir Tikvah own synagogue. Torah to another chavurah in need of a Torah. We would ask Shir Tikvah sent "requests to apply" around the globe after them to do the same." deciding it could part with its Beth Jacob Torah once its newly In that short paragraph, the cantor beautifully captured scribed Torah arrived. Troy congregants also have a Holocaust how the Shir Tikvah Torah would become a real hativkah — a Torah within its new Aron Hakodesh. real hope — for renewal in a city trying valiantly to shed its Nine applicants from America, Israel, Norway, Peru and Nazi past. It's certainly great to see a new ohel, a new tent, Germany came forth for the spare Torah, which Shir Tikvah stand in Berlin, where Nazi Germany leaders maneuvered to acquired in 1991 when Beth Jacob of Pontiac closed. All nine destroy European Jewry. congregations were deserving of the 200-year-old Eastern Sixty-three years after the end of World War II, Shir Tikvah European Torah. So choosing became hard, said Shin Tikvah's has fostered yet another example of the enduring vigor of Rabbi Arnie Sleutelberg. the Jewish people. The holy connection it inspired with Ohel The Berlin congregation won out became it most matched HaChidusch is a triumph of the spirit of our people — once Shir Tikvah's profile: egalitarian, vibrant, music oriented as more — over Hitler's ravages. 111 well as welcoming to intermarried families, Jews seeking to reclaim their heritage and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans- Congregations thinking about donating a Sefer Torah can con- gender community. tact Rabbi Sleutelberg at rabbiarnie@shirtikvah.org . Related Shir Tikvah also felt giving a Torah that served an Eastern story: page A25. 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