Efraim Eisen, the College's new Jewish adviser, reads MHC's new Torah using the traditional Yad.

On Friday, October 27, MHC will celebrate the arrival of an important religious object on campus—a Torah, a scroll that contains the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. Created in Poland sometime during the 1930s, the College's new Torah survived the Holocaust, during which many Jewish religious objects were damaged or destroyed, and has arrived in South Hadley via New York's Lower East Side. Its long journey now ended, the Torah is poised to serve generations of worshippers at MHC. The Torah consecration ceremony will be held at 5:30 pm in Abbey Chapel.

Last year, the MHC Jewish community and the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life requested that the College purchase a Torah and secured funding through the President's Discretionary Fund for Diversity and Inclusion, endowed by Nancy Skinner Nordhoff '54. When Efraim Eisen, the College's new Jewish adviser, arrived on campus in September, a Torah topped his list of things that would improve Jewish life on campus. Now, the College not only has a new Torah, but an ark to house it.

Melissa Simon '04 (left), Michelle Stern '04, and Efraim Eisen pose with MHC's new Torah.

Says Lawrence Fine, Irene Kaplan Leiwant Professor of Jewish Studies at MHC, “There is no traditional ritual to dedicate a new Torah, but various customs have evolved, including a D'var Torah, that is, a homily on the meaning of the Torah in Jewish life, and celebratory singing and dancing.” MHC's Torah ceremony will include a Friday evening service led by Eisen, songs sung by students, and special prayer offerings given by students. In addition, the Torah will be passed through the congregation, and anyone who chooses to may hold it and welcome it to the community. Fine will also deliver remarks at the event, drawing, a connection between the beginning of the new yearly cycle of reading of the Torah (which begins in synagogues this coming Sabbath), and the dedication of MHC's Torah scroll.

According to Eisen, “Having and learning Torah builds and expands Jewish community, so we're delighted to have this handwritten Torah on campus.” In addition to journeying to New York to purchase the Torah this fall, Eisen arranged for local artisan Mark Leue to begin building the ark that will hold it.

The Torah has already played a significant role at MHC. It was first read during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, in September. And, on October 21, the Torah was center stage, as one of four Torahs, for the Five College Simchat Torah celebration. A holiday that expresses Jews' joy of sharing the wisdom of the Torah, Simchat Torah marks the annual ending and beginning of the Torah's reading. The Five Colleges held this year's service at the University of Massachusetts.

Photographs by Greg Davis.