Wantagh synagogue dedicates fourth Torah

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A fourth Torah — the Jewish scripture containing the books of Mosaic Law — was dedicated at Congregation Beth Tikvah in Wantagh on June 9.
The new Torah entered the sanctuary under a special canopy called a chupah at roughly 9:15 a.m., according to a statement by Beth Tikvah board member Jo-Ann Hertzman. June 9 was the first day of the Feast of Shavuot.
Chupahs are normally used in Jewish weddings, Hertzman wrote.
“Jewish tradition says that a new Torah is to be welcomed into a community just as one welcomes a bride and groom,” Hertzman wrote.
In the past 10 months, the community dedicated three other Torahs. All four of the Torahs came to the synagogue from Israel, where they were produced painstakingly by hand by special scribes, according to traditions and techniques thousands of years old.