Holmdel Welcomes First Torah

By Holly Garguilo

Despite the rainy weather on Sunday, over 250 people joined the Chabad Jewish Center of Holmdel in a walk along Main Street to commemorate what is being called Holmdel’s first Torah.

The procession from the modest Chabad center housed at 65 West Main Street included live music and dancing, and ended with a party at the Holmdel Fire House Hall at 35 West Main Street, where the Chabad holds its group events.

“When I first came here three years ago everyone said there were no Jews in Holmdel, and I had only 20 people on the High Holy Days,” Galperin said after the Torah was placed in its home in the Holy Ark waiting at the fire house. “Three years later, with the completion of the first Torah in Holmdel, we have bad weather — and a packed house.”

“Holmdel is now not a ‘community with Jews,’ but we have formed a ‘Jewish community,'” said Rabbi Boruch Chazanow from the Chabad of Western Monmouth County.

The event began at 11 a.m. with the specially trained scribe (called the Sofer) hand writing the last Hebrew letters of the Torah in front of the congregation. The Five Books of Moses had been a year in the making.

The Torah was then carried under a wedding canopy to protect it from rain by Rabbi Shmaya Galperin of the Chabad Jewish Center of Holmdel, as music played and members danced around him cheerfully. Mayor Patrick Impreveduto and Committeeman Larry Fink were in attendance.

The Torah was given to the Jews by Moses over 3,000 years ago and continues to serve as a guide for Jews, a protector, a source of strength and integrity that helps reaffirm Jewish identity, Galperin said.

Dr. Maurice Weiss and his wife, Risa Weiss, of Colts Neck, donated the Holy Ark that will protectively house the Torah. It was given in memory of his mother and his wife’s father.

“The Torah is a continuum for lifelong learning for people of Jewish faith,” Risa Weiss said.

The Chabad Jewish Center formed in Holmdel three years ago and invites people of all backgrounds, affiliations, or levels of observance to join and participate in weekly Shabbat dinners, services, classes, and Sunday Hebrew School, said Galperin.