Hachnasas Sefer Torah
One of the most precious or prized religious commandments in the Jewish tradition, is to write a Torah scroll. Containing the Five Books of Moses, it is hand written on specially crafted parchment, with specially formulated ink, using a natural quill. The writing itself has so many governing rules, that there are only a handful of people who do it as their only craft. It takes many months, if not years, to complete one. It is no wonder that the completion of such a task calls for a major celebration. These days there are very few individuals who can afford the financial commitment to obtain the merit of fulfilling this religious requirement. In most cases an extended family joins together and will undertake such a project. They pool their resources, and hire a Sofer, the specially trained and learned scribe, who writes the scroll. When the work is completed, the family donates the parchment to their synagogue or other institution, in the name of their ancestors, to be used on a regular basis. They invite their immediate relatives to sponsors a letter in the scroll, but other guests, friends and neighbors can also participate in the deed of partaking in the fulfillment of this rare opportunity, and sharing in "the merit of" this spiritual experience. These images were captured on one of those rare occasions in Beachwood, (a suburb of Cleveland) Ohio in 2012.
One of the most precious or prized religious commandments in the Jewish tradition, is to write a Torah scroll. Containing the Five Books of Moses, it is hand written on specially crafted parchment, with specially formulated ink, using a natural quill. The writing itself has so many governing rules, that there are only a handful of people who do it as their only craft. It takes many months, if not years, to complete one. It is no wonder that the completion of such a task calls for a major celebration. These days there are very few individuals who can afford the financial commitment to obtain the merit of fulfilling this religious requirement. In most cases an extended family joins together and will undertake such a project. They pool their resources, and hire a Sofer, the specially trained and learned scribe, who writes the scroll. When the work is completed, the family donates the parchment to their synagogue or other institution, in the name of their ancestors, to be used on a regular basis. They invite their immediate relatives to sponsors a letter in the scroll, but other guests, friends and neighbors can also participate in the deed of partaking in the fulfillment of this rare opportunity, and sharing in "the merit of" this spiritual experience. These images were captured on one of those rare occasions in Beachwood, (a suburb of Cleveland) Ohio in 2012.
There were close to 500 photos taken over the course of a five hour event. The captured images were filtered, processed and selected to 400 keepers. It took almost 20 hours of processing time to finalize the selection. From these 400 frames, a little over 100 were further screened to be included in a proposal for a privately published coffee-table style hard cover photo book. This short (4-minute) presentation is the first layout of the proof of this volume. Once this book is printed, it will be an instant family heirloom to commemorate and document this family's legacy.
