Torah, Ark Donated to Calvert Jewish Congregation

Rabbi Says Gifts Inspire In Time for High Holidays

Calvert County's only Jewish congregation, Beit Chaverim, received a gift of a Torah and an ark where it is kept in time for the start of the Jewish New Year and High Holy Days.

Two members, William L. and Norma Imershein, secured the sacred scrolls from their former New York congregation, Temple Sinai, and brought it to the nine-year-old Reform congregation in Calvert.

"I'm just the one passing it on," said Norma Imershein, whose husband died in March. The Torah was dedicated Saturday in his honor.

The gifts help the Prince Frederick congregation establish roots, Rabbi Arnold Saltzman said.

The Torah is the whole body of Jewish sacred writings and tradition. Each is written by hand on several pieces of parchment sewn together, Saltzman said. The process can take more than two years, costing up to $20,000 for one Torah, he said.

"It has this sense of renewal and excitement for our congregation to begin the year with both of these gifts," Saltzman said. "It inspires members to reconnect not only to the symbol but to study it and learn what it has to offer us."

The Imersheins' Torah was originally dedicated to Temple Sinai in honor of William L. Imershein's father, who helped establish the Long Island, N.Y., congregation of which he was an active member. Six Imershein grandchildren have used the Torah in their bar and bat mitzvahs, with one to come, Norma Imershein said.

About a year and a half ago, the Imersheins learned that their former congregation was combining with another and that there would be more than one Torah.

"The thought struck us both at the same time: 'What are they doing with the Torahs?' " Norma Imershein said. "I'm glad that [our] thought could be fulfilled."

Members of Beit Chaverim had been saving to buy a Torah and the Imersheins' gift answered their prayers, Saltzman said.

Saltzman said he also loves the story behind the ark, which a non-Jewish member of the Calvert community, cabinetmaker Stanley Benning, built and donated to Beit Chaverim.

"All of those things are very meaningful to me, to have good relationships and good community," Saltzman said.

The congregation had been borrowing an older, smaller Torah that was originally used during World War I, said Klaus Zwilsky, its religious chairman.

"The next thing we'd like to have is a synagogue in Calvert County, but we are happy to have use of St. Paul's Episcopal Church to have our services in," Zwilsky said.

As for the money collected in the Torah fund, Imershein said she would like to see some of it used to buy decorations and tools for using the Torah.

"Perhaps it will help us for the next important moment in the life of our congregation," Saltzman said.