Jewish
Journeys...
Passing the Torah by Val Scott
(Val
Scott was the Outreach Director in the Pacific Central
West Council. She began rabbinical school at the HUC in
Jerusalem in June 2002.)
When
I watch the passing of the Torah at a bar or bat mitzvah,
I wonder: Who passes the Torah to me? My
father is Irish Catholic, and my mother, a Catholic who was
once a Presbyterian.
My
name is Rut bat Avraham v'Sarah. But Abraham and Sarah died
a long time ago. I have no family stories about Passover.
Like Ruth, I am here only because I wanted to be. Who passes
the Torah to me?
When
I approached a Rabbi about conversion
He gently suggested we study together, And passed the Torah
to me.
When
my first Hebrew teacher patiently guided me, right to left
through the aleph-bet, She passed the Torah to me.
When
I shivered in the water of the mikveh; And the cantor led
me through the blessings; She passed the Torah to me.
When
I talked for an hour with the Beit Din; When the Torah study
class showed how Jews study Bible; When the Talmud group welcomed
me for discussion and stories;
When
an Israeli acquaintance corrected my Hebrew; When my study
partner clapped a kippah on my head; They passed the Torah
to me.
When
a little girl showed me how to tear the challah; When a woman
offered me my first taste of a Hillel sandwich; When the guy
at the bakery said, "Shabbat Shalom!;"
When
a committee chair said to me, "Here, you can do this;"
When friends shared recipes and stories and customs; They
passed the Torah to me.
If
it takes a village to raise a child, It takes a congregation
to raise a convert.
We
pass the Torah from hand to hand And make sure all the Jews
who want can hold it, Can write it in their hearts, Speak
of it in their homes, Teach it to their children, Bind it
on their hands, Hold it before their eyes, And write it-in
golden letters! On the doorposts of their gates. |
