Local News in Brief : Irvine : Torah to Be Dedicated at University Synagogue

A whole Torah, about 250 feet of hand-scribed parchment, will be unrolled in an unusual Torah dedication ceremony this morning at University Synagogue in Irvine.

The 20-year-old English Torah will be presented by Suzanne and Robert Butnik of Irvine, members of the 2-year-old Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation congregation, and Bernard and Elly Butnik of Long Beach.

A Torah is the first five books of the Old Testament written in scroll form on parchment. According to Jewish tradition, a scribe uses a turkey feather dipped in vegetable ink to write a Torah, which usually takes a year.

Every week, a few chapters of the scroll are read. During the Simhat Torah holiday three weeks after Rosh Hashana, the last few words and the first few words are read “to symbolize that Jewish learning never ends,” according to Rabbi Arnold Rachlis, of the Evanston, Ill., Jewish Reconstructionist congregation, who will perform the dedication ceremony.

“To see the whole Torah--the whole year of Torah readings, the whole Torah passed down for 27 centuries and recording the history of our people--unrolled before your eyes, it is dramatic,” said Rachlis, one of only half a dozen Reconstructionist rabbis who perform the ceremony.

The Butniks commissioned a Los Angeles scribe, Rabbi Shmuel Miller, to recondition the Torah for the young congregation of about 100.

“It is a symbol of our heritage as well as a symbol of our commitment to our education and the future of our religion,” said Robert Butnik. It is also a way to thank his grandmother, a Russian immigrant who died recently, for passing on the culture and religion, he said.