Members of the Sephardic community of Magen David celebrated the dedication of a new Torah scroll today in the Jewish community of Surfside. Around 300 people attended today's ceremony at the Olemberg Hall in Miami Beach to honor and inaugurate the new Torah scroll for the synagogue's sanctuary.

The Sefer Torah dedication was the culmination of a two year project, spearheaded by Richard Saka and Irwin Shaab longtime members of Magen David.  Community members funded the writing of the Torah by purchasing individual parshas (portions) and dedicating them in honor of their families and loved ones.

Rabbi Gavriel Koskas, Rabbi of the Magen David congregation, led the attendees with the dedication. Following the celebratory meal, the last two lines of the sacred parchment were filled in by community members eager to join in the mitzvah of writing a Torah scroll.
Those who purchased the honor wrote in the Hebrew letters using a quill and ink under the guidance of the scribe, Rabbi Avraham Benzaquen.  The funds that were raised at today's event will go towards a new building fund for the community.

The ceremony's keynoter was Rabbi Eli Mansour, an internationally renowned Torah speaker, who flew down from New York to attend today's event. Rabbi Mansour acknowledged both the growth and achievement of the community in the short span of its creation along with the importance of tradition and Jewish education of one's children.

"Our Torah is not a spectator sport", he emphasized. "Our Torah is an active sport - it takes learners. One must actually open the Torah and wear it down and turn its pages".

Located on the corner of 93rd and Harding Avenue, the Magen David Synagogue services the communities of both Bal Harbour and Surfside. Rabbi Koskas officiates the services three times daily and offers both morning and evening classes for the different segments of the community.

When the final letter was written and the Torah scroll complete, men crowded up on the platform and joyously began dancing. The scroll was then carefully wrapped up and placed in the mantle inside it's new ornate cover. Members of the community then drove over to the  synagogue location on Harding Avenue and assembled to 'greet' the new Torah scroll in a large procession with dancing and singing whilst inducting it to it's final resting point at the synagogues ark.

To learn more about Magen David Synagogue of Surfside and its programs, please call 305-520-9348