Chabad House unveils new Torah scroll

The Chabad House in Getzville recently received a new Torah scroll, marking the Dec. 9 event with a celebration.

The Torah scroll, one of the Jewish people's most sacred objects, has roughly 600,000 handwritten letters. With a feather and special mix of ink, the scribe writes the five books of Moses on roughly 54 pieces of parchment.

The average process takes more than a year to produce the Torah scroll.

"When a scroll is completed, it calls for great celebration by the city greeting it to its new home - the Holy Ark in the synagogue," Rabbi Moshe Gurary said. "All the Torah scrolls join the greeting procession as they accompany the dancing and the entire community."

The new Torah scroll was completed at the Chabad House Center, a Jewish outreach, educational and social service organization that meets at 2450 N. Forest Road in Getzville.