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Makom Torah - A Place of Torah

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Proofreading Genesis: Progress of TI's Torah.........posted Dec 22, 2006

It was only the last weekend of October when selected members of Tikvat Israel got to compose Hebrew letters in the opening verse of the synagogue's new Torah scroll.

Now it can be reported that the Torah's official scribe, Rabbi Menachem Youlous of Wheaton, Md., has put the final touches of ink on Genesis and Exodus. He expects to move on to the remaining Five Books of Moses following Hanukkah.

As each book is finished, it is subjected to a number of quality control checks. One of these is conducted by a computer.

But Rabbi Youlous and his fellow scribes don't rely on computers alone because, not surprisingly, some mistakes escape the computer's eye. So while Genesis has already undergone its computer checks, according to Danny Bachman, who chairs TI's torah commissioning campaign, the scroll remains to be fully inspected by human eyes "before it is deemed ready for our use."

Congregants should keep their ears open for reports by Bachman of further developments about TI's new Torah. More activities are planned, including opportunities for congregants to fill in individual Hebrew letters in the developing scroll. More than 300,000 Hebrew letters comprise a completed Torah so ample letters remain to be inked.

The sefer Torah will be formally accepted by TI on May 20, just before the holiday of Shavuot, with a siyyum celebration.