Torah Commemoration by Dr. Peter Kraus, October 24, 2004

As I was walking with the Torah towards our Temple in the ceremony today, I said to our president, Steve Weiss, “This feels even more special than the dedication of our new synagogue three years ago”. He replied “naturally, this Sefer Torah will last much longer than any edifice”. I realized how true, and even more so, how the words of the Torah have lasted 4,000 years or more.

I would like to thank our Sofer (scribe) Neal Yerman for his devotion to our community over the last two years to make this day possible, and to all of those who have donated and partaken in the writing of the letters of Kol Ami’s new Sefer Torah.

The last of the 613 Commandments is the one to write a Torah.

You who have partaken in the writing of one of the 305,805 letters of the Torah, have performed this mitzvah.

The laws that pertain to the creation of a Sefer Torah are extremely exacting, rigorous and demanding.

The scribe must be a God-fearing man, must bathe in the mikva before writing, must say a blessing before writing, must read each word aloud before writing it, and cannot write unless totally focused on the work.

Each letter must be written accurately. No letter may be added or removed or else the Torah is not Kosher.

All the makings of the Torah must be natural and Kosher – the parchment from skin of a Kosher animal, the wood, the quill and even the black ink.

If a Torah becomes "unkosher," it is not thrown in the trash but kept in a gnizah or buried. If the Torah is dropped, the community must fast.

So why all these laws? Why can’t we just use a regular printed book?

The Torah is the spouse of the Jewish people. It is the source of our laws, our spirit, our way of life, our heritage and our history.

When a Torah is commemorated, we take it under a chupa, just like at a wedding.

So if we treat a spouse with love, respect, honor, adoration, and devotion, how much more should we treat the Torah which is given to the Jews by Hashem at Mount Sinai.

It takes a congregation to complete a Torah and a Torah to complete a congregation.

When I first wrote the letter in the Torah with the scribe, it was the letter “mem.” I was trying to find the significance in that letter for me. It was only today when I wrote my second letter “yud,” that it all came to me with such clarity.

The letter “mem,” whether spelled backwards or forwards is the same. It is a dual mirror image. Just like we are to be a mirror image of ourselves. Also it represents the two luchot habrit.

In addition, the numerical value of “mem” is 40.

Moses had to go up to the top of Har Sinai and stay there 40 days and 40 nights till he was able to receive the Torah from Hashem.

It was a preparation process even for the most pious and God-fearing man.

It made me realize how, though I was brought up with Torah on a daily basis until my late 20s, I left the Torah after that. I had difficulty reconciling my religion with my sexuality. As a matter of fact here in Los Angeles, I was in an Orthodox synagogue on Rosh Hashanah, and the Rabbi was giving a sermon. He asked why the gays need a synagogue of their own. I became very angry and never returned there. I spent that Yom Kippur on the beach, somewhat intoxicated…but by Simchat Torah, I was at the gay synagogue dancing with the Torah.

Fortunately, our rabbi and the congregation of Kol Ami, has served as a catalyst to bring back the excitement and enthusiasm of Torah – both learning and teaching.

So now the “yud” has been added to the “mem” to create “mayim,” mayim chayim – living waters – a creative fluid back in my spirit. Also the gimatria of mayim is 90-40+40+10. 90= the letter zaddik. Righteous and pure- something for me to strive towards.

On a similar note, Abraham’s spiritual transformation is the main topic of the Torah readings in the month of Cheshvan that we are in. This is a transformation that occurs in ten stages.

Yesterday we read from Parhsat Lech Lecha which starts off with the first of these trials.
God commands Abraham to go forth from his land, his birthplace and his father’s home to the land that God will show him..

The last of these trials is seen later in Vayera, where God commands Abraham to take his only son and go to the land of Moriah and sacrifice him.

The first test was intended for Avraham’s own improvement, while the akeidah demonstrated that Avraham was able to pass his love and devotion to Hashem onto his son, Isaac.

Let’s look at the difference in the grammar, though. In the first, it is “go forth from” and in the second it is “go forth to”.

In the first, Abraham severs his ties with his past but does not know where he will be going. This is a departure motivated more by the impetus to leave than the inducement to arrive.

On the other hand, in the “go forth to,” Avraham is told to move towards a higher objective, that of demonstrating his utter loyalty to Hashem.

In our journey of deepening our commitment to Torah, each of us begins, as Avraham did, with a leaving behind, and progresses to a moving towards.

Leaving behind can happen once and then it is over. But going to, is a life-long mission.

Of course we must be cognizant of what values we are putting behind us. But even so, a life of Torah is not solely a life of rejection. That would be too easy. It would amount to nothing more than the indiscriminate rebelliousness of adolescence.

To be complete, a life of Torah must be a life of aspirations, ever aiming for greater achievements in Torah learning, in increasing our observance of the mitzvot, in being more aware of God in our lives and in developing better qualities as human beings, to each other in our community, as well as to our country, to Israel and to the world.

So, let us close our eyes and say a shehecheyanu to our new Torah with the idea in mind that today, on this very day, we “lech lecha me” go from and leave behind the secular world, the financial pressures or quests, the news of the world that makes us feel fearful and insecure, and “lech el” go to our home, Kol Ami, and our Torah that completes us, that gives us spiritual development that we can pass on to our family, our progeny, our friends, our workmates and the world through our good deeds, charitable acts, spirituality and love that comes from the holy Torah.

Posted by Lee at October 26, 2004 01:48 PM