Dear CBI Congregants and Friends,

We are writing to share news of our progress on raising funds for CBI’s Torah Restoration & Maintenance Fund. We are thrilled to report that we have raised $21,174 from 37 families and individuals towards our goal of $50,000! Our deepest thanks go to everyone who has so generously made a donation.

Last winter, we brought two of CBI’s Torahs to Rabbi Moshe Druin, from Sofer On Site International, for evaluation and appraisal while he was working at Congregation Knesset Israel. It was then that we became aware that our scrolls were no longer “kosher” and needed repair as soon as possible. He found a number of issues, including ink that was crumbling and falling off the pages and numerous smudges. Our scrolls, which originated in Poland, are over 120 years old and had not been worked on for at least 20 years. Rabbi Druin was able to make the most urgent repairs to allow us to use one of the scrolls until they could both be fully repaired at a later date.

We have commissioned Rabbi Druin to visit Congregation Beth Israel later this winter to repair both of the Torahs that we use regularly and to bring them up to the condition that makes them eligible to enroll in a Torah Maintenance Program. Donors to the Torah Fund will be offered the opportunity to attend a special program as part of his visit – more information will be made available to those who have already contributed.

The Torah is at the heart of Jewish life and practice. We read from Torah each week, finding new meaning in its stories year after year and day after day. Torah shapes our festival cycle and the rhythms of Jewish time. Torah is the source of our values and our practices; there is nothing more core to who we are as Jews. Our physical Torah scrolls are our inheritance from previous generations of Jews in northern Berkshire. They are precious and sacred and in need of our care.