May 27, 2004

Local Havurah seeks own Torah and cares for old one

Imagine a Catholic service without a Bible, a Muslim service without a Koran or any spiritual community without the words from God to lead it.

The Yellow Springs Havurah, the local Jewish spiritual group, has existed for over 20 years without a Torah, its central text and spiritual cornerstone. But this month, the Havurah prepares to embrace two of the handwritten parchment scrolls of the five books of Moses.

Last fall, as members of the Havurah considered bringing Torah and more formal spirituality into the local Jewish community, the group was gifted with an older Torah from the United Theological Seminary (UTS) in Dayton. Though its history is vague, according to Tom Dozeman, a professor of Hebrew at UTS and a Yellow Springs resident, this Torah originated in Germany in the 1800s or earlier, and was purchased in Jerusalem at the turn of the century. After UTS acquired it around 1920, the Torah was used as a teaching tool and never entered the synagogue again.

The Torah, which could cost around $15,000 new, was a gift that moved members of the Havurah to refocus their energy toward a more formal spiritual life and the attraction of new membership, Havurah member Jay Rothman said.

When UTS presented the Torah last fall, however, members found parts of the writing had been damaged and were illegible, he said. At the same time Havurah members realized they could not read from a damaged Torah during Shabbat, members also gained resolve to find a Torah that would make their community more official and more independent.

Traditionally, the Yellow Springs Havurah has been a loosely organized social network of Jewish families who wanted their children to learn more about Jewish heritage, Rothman said. But recently, the Havurah has chosen to focus more on its spiritual identity.

For the past five years, Rabbi Marianne Gevirtz of Temple Shalom in Springfield came to Yellow Springs on the second Saturday of the month with a Torah from her temple to lead Shabbat services at Rockford Chapel. About 20 of the 60 to 80 members of the Havurah and a handful of non-Jewish community members regularly attended the services, centered around the Torah.

Before her death earlier this year, Gevirtz told the Havurah that “a Jewish community cannot be a spiritual community without a Torah,” Rothman recalled.

So partly to deepen the meaning of Shabbat and partly to honor a rabbi who worked hard to grow the Yellow Springs Jewish community, the Havurah decided at its annual meeting this month to redouble its fundraising efforts to purchase a useable Torah for the community.

To purchase a new scroll, the Havurah estimates it will need $10,000 to $20,000, $6,000 of which has already been committed by members of the steering committee, said Havurah member Nance Parent. An anonymous donor in Dayton is also considering supporting the group’s efforts, she said, as are members of the Quaker community with whom the Havurah shares the Rockford Chapel.

“It doesn’t feel impossible to raise another $5,000 to $10,000,” Rothman said.

Longtime Friends affiliate Ross Morgan is an advocate for community spiritual diversity and supports the Havurah in its endeavor to incorporate more deeply, he said. He agrees with the Quaker spirit of unity and universality that encourages Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Jews and all religious groups to support each other, he said.

The Havurah in turn strives to be open and inclusive of all community members and invites all interested persons to join its Shabbat services every other Saturday. Many non-Jewish residents already attend the Havurah’s events, a trend Parent supports and finds “so Yellow Springs.”

The search for a new Torah also reflects the experimental Yellow Springs spirit in that the Havurah will not have an official rabbi to interpret the scripture. The group will have to lead itself through its own idea of what the ancient text means for them in the 21st century.

“We’re looking at building something from the inside out,” Rothman said. “Using Torah as our leader is radical, and we have to figure out how to be led by it.”

In the midst of organizing to bring a new Torah to Yellow Springs, members of the Havurah cannot forget that they were gifted with a treasure, which they plan to keep.

“Even without being able to read from it, it’s still a precious object for the Jewish community, and it will be lovingly held,” Randi Rothman said.

The Havurah plans to keep both the new and the old Torah together in the same wooden ark that traditionally houses the scrolls. Members also continue to research the history of the old Torah to find out just how ancient a relic they have in their hands.

“With the old Torah we’ve got this traveling story, but we don’t have all the pieces yet,” Parent said.

—Lauren Heaton