Torah

The story of Har Sinai Congregation's rare and mysterious unfinished Torah begins at the end, at the last Hebrew passage of Book of Deuteronomy that tells about the singular status of the prophet Moses, chosen by God to display "great might and awesome power … before all Israel." Rabbi Darryl Crystal had seen these words before, of course, but when he unrolled this scroll in the Har Sinai sanctuary in Owings Mills one afternoon last October, he noticed that the letters of the last 114 words were rendered only in outline on the parchment and left unfinished.

A group that salvages Holocaust-era Torahs from Europe and sells them to congregations in the United States has agreed to stop promoting dramatic rescue stories unless it can document them, according to an agreement with Maryland authorities sparked by complaints about the group's practices. An investigation into the operations of Save a Torah of Rockville followed a Washington Post Magazine article that raised questions about stories told by Rabbi Menachem Youlus, the group's leader.

A group that salvages Holocaust-era Torahs from Europe and sells them to congregations in the United States has agreed to stop promoting dramatic rescue stories unless it can document them, according to an agreement with Maryland authorities sparked by complaints about the group's practices. An investigation into the operations of Save a Torah of Rockville followed a Washington Post Magazine article that raised questions about stories told by Rabbi Menachem Youlus, the group's leader.

The story of Har Sinai Congregation's rare and mysterious unfinished Torah begins at the end, at the last Hebrew passage of Book of Deuteronomy that tells about the singular status of the prophet Moses, chosen by God to display "great might and awesome power … before all Israel." Rabbi Darryl Crystal had seen these words before, of course, but when he unrolled this scroll in the Har Sinai sanctuary in Owings Mills one afternoon last October, he noticed that the letters of the last 114 words were rendered only in outline on the parchment and left unfinished.

New Orleans.--At the end of World War II, American GIs in Europe discovered a warehouse full of Jewish religious objects. They had been looted by the Nazis from the synagogues of Eastern Europe, and were being stored for an eventual ''Museum of the Jews'' that the Nazis were going to build when they had murdered all the Jews.Among these objects was the Torah from the synagogue in Sibiu, my home town in Romania. The Torah -- the sacred scroll on which the Bible is written -- is said to contain all the souls of the people living in the community.

More than 300 Jewish women from Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania will gather in Baltimore tomorrow to reflect on what the Torah teaches about "Women as Architects of Peace," the theme of the second annual Women's Day of Torah, Inspiration and Growth. The event, sponsored by the Upper Park Heights-based Women's Institute of Torah, will feature 22 workshops in three sessions that will explore ways of building peace in global politics, in local communities, in the home and in the person.

In a chapel at Beth Israel Congregation, the four members of the Hoffman family -- parents Dale and Sharona, daughters Brenna and Sarah -- gathered around Rabbi Moshe Druin. A scroll lay spread out on the table before him, along with a quill pen and a jar of ink. The injunction to participate in the creation of a Torah is the last of the 613 mitzvot, or commandments, in Judaism. Druin, a Torah scribe, turned to 14-year-old Brenna to ask why that might be. "Why wouldn't it be honor your parents, or love God?"

Today, a fledgling Jewish congregation in Baltimore County will rededicate sacred Torah scrolls, originally inscribed in czarist Russia and rescued decades later from the communist Soviet Union by a rabbi persecuted for his faith. The rabbi stored the scrolls at his home in London for nearly 40 years. Now his 29-year-old son, Rabbi Nochum Katsenelenbogen, leader of the Chabad Center in Owings Mills, has brought what is considered the most precious article of Jewish life to America to the congregation he founded nearly four years ago. Until today, the center has relied on a borrowed Torah.

Shavuot might not get the attention of the better-known Jewish holidays. But next week's festive holiday, which celebrates the receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, has a slew of cherished traditions -- from all-night Torah study sessions and confirmation services to decorating synagogues with foliage and feasting on cheesecake. "It's a wonderful holiday," said Dr. Gary Gross, a Columbia veterinarian and member of the Lubavitch Center for Jewish Education in Columbia. "Every year, I try to stay up and study."

In Rabbi David Fohrman, philanthropist LeRoy Hoffberger found a teacher who made the Torah come alive."I thought he was a master teacher," Hoffberger said. "He has this technique of being able to excite you and create in you a sense of wonder about what it is the answers are going to be to the questions raised in various portions of Torah."Hoffberger wanted to find a way to enable Fohrman, and teachers like him, to share their gifts with the wider Jewish community, particularly with Jews not affiliated with a synagogue and with little connection to the religion or culture.

The Oakland Mills Community Association will hold annual village elections on April 25. The association is seeking candidates to run for seven open seats on the Oakland Mills board and one open seat as the Oakland Mills representative to the Columbia Council. Terms are for one year. Nominations will be accepted Tuesday through March 13. Nomination petitions and candidate information packets are available at The Other Barn. Information: Sandy Cederbaum at 410-730-4610, omca@columbiavillages.

Today, a fledgling Jewish congregation in Baltimore County will rededicate sacred Torah scrolls, originally inscribed in czarist Russia and rescued decades later from the communist Soviet Union by a rabbi persecuted for his faith. The rabbi stored the scrolls at his home in London for nearly 40 years. Now his 29-year-old son, Rabbi Nochum Katsenelenbogen, leader of the Chabad Center in Owings Mills, has brought what is considered the most precious article of Jewish life to America to the congregation he founded nearly four years ago. Until today, the center has relied on a borrowed Torah.

A 400-year-old Torah, saved from the sands of Iraq, has found its way to a synagogue in western Howard County. The scroll of Hebrew scripture, containing the first five books of the Bible, was found by U.S. soldiers among the ruins of a synagogue in Mosul, Iraq. A Jewish expert in Torahs who leads a worldwide effort to rescue scrolls like this got it out of the country and repaired it. Now, that piece of history has landed in Fulton, housed in an ark at Temple Isaiah. The Reform congregation plans a year of educational events centered on this Torah and the Jews of Arab nations, beginning today with presentations by Rabbi Menachem Youlus, who is a sofer, someone trained in the transcription of Torahs.

Authors' Forum tomorrow at church The Iota Lambda Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. will sponsor an Authors' Forum from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. tomorrow at St. John Baptist Church, 8910 Old Annapolis Road, Columbia. Selena Johnson, author of The Sin of Racism, will speak. She will be joined by other local authors. Iota Lambda Omega is celebrating 35 years of service to Howard County. Since its inception in 1972, the sorority has offered scholarships, tutoring, mentoring and other programs to reach people in need.

JERUSALEM -- Israel's national electric company is facing a religious quandary: How can the Jewish state's power supplier generate electricity on the Sabbath without violating the laws of the Jewish day of rest and prayer? To find an answer, the multibillion-dollar company has turned to the shabby offices of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Halperin, a 72-year-old spiritual adviser with a Father Time beard, who is widely recognized as the final word on what is possible and what is not under Orthodox Jewish law. Jewish law provides a guide for the actions of observant Jews from morning until night.

Years after facing destruction during the Holocaust, a Torah parchment scroll inscribed with Hebrew scripture has been saved once again - this time from the perils of mold and moisture in a musty basement in Poland. The restored Torah will return to use at Columbia Jewish Congregation, which will celebrate its arrival Sunday at a dedication ceremony called a siyyum. "This is one way that Jewish community life lives on," said Rabbi Menachem Youlus, co-founder of the Wheaton-based Save a Torah Foundation.

Singing "God's Torah is complete," the congregation of Ohr Hamizrah walked and danced down Park Heights Avenue yesterday, in a dedication ceremony that celebrated the completion of a new Torah and paid tribute to the man who helped Iranian Jews find a home in Baltimore.The 245-page handwritten scroll was commissioned in memory of Rabbi Yaakov S. Weinberg, dean of Ner Israel Rabbincal College who died of cancer last month, nearly 20 years after helping give asylum to Jews fleeing Iran during the Islamic revolution.