Binghamton University's Chabad Inducts New "Legacy" Torah
Binghamton University's Rohr Chabad Center for Jewish Life inducted a special "Legacy" Torah on Sunday morning.
More than 200 students and community members gathered on campus to parade Judaism's most sacred book before dancing and reading from it at the Chabad Center on Murray Hill Road.
"It will sit here with our other three Torahs, but this one is a little more special because it's really connected with students who went here," said Mariah Stein, Chabad President.
Stein says BU's Chabad began writing this "Legacy" Torah three years ago. Alumni from the last 30 years sponsored individual letters, words, paragraphs, and portions of the book. There are 304,805 Hebrew letters in a Torah, which must be handwritten.
"It's really important to just feel a connection and be connected if you've graduated or if you don't go here anymore, you're still connected to this building and you're still connected to Binghamton University," said Stein.
"Our hope and prayer is that this Torah will be used with great joy for many decades to come, uniting thousand and thousands of souls across scores of generations," said Rabbi Levi Slonim, Chabad Center Director of Programming.
Individuals who dedicated letters in this Torah come from the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, South Africa, and Australia.
"It's so great to come back and know that you have a purpose here," said Stein.
She adds that it's important to connect the school community with the City community.
"Binghamton University has such a big Jewish community, but the City of Binghamton doesn't have a big Jewish community, so it's so nice to be able to combine both of those and to have such a big impact," said Stein.
You can learn more about the Chabad Center here.