Santa Rosa’s Congregation Beth Ami will hold a siyyum, or celebration, in honor of the repair and rededication of its Torah scrolls on April 28.
The event will include live music, food, dancing and a Torah scribe, Rabbi David Rue from Los Angeles, filling in the last letters on the scrolls. Rabbis from Sonoma, Napa and Marin counties are expected to take part.
The Conservative synagogue’s three Torahs include a 70-year-old scroll of Polish Hassidic origin. Mark Sutter, chair of the Beth Ami fundraising committee, said it had suffered water damage, and Rue, a sofer (Torah scribe), was commissioned to do the repairs.
Beth Ami Rabbi Mordechai Miller said that the need for repair became a learning opportunity, and Rabbi Rue even made a visit to the religious school. “He talked about the art of the sofer and ran a workshop about calligraphy for the kids,” Miller said.
A siyyum is a Jewish celebration that occurs on rare occasions, such as the completion of the reading of the Talmud or when a synagogue acquires a new Torah.
The siyyum, which is free, starts at 10 a.m. Sunday, April 28, at Congregation Beth Ami, 4676 Mayette Ave., Santa Rosa. For more information, call (707) 360-3000.