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HomeEvents2:00 PM -- Ida Noyes: Rohr Chabad Center To Celebrate First New Torah Scroll In Decades

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2:00 PM -- Ida Noyes: Rohr Chabad Center To Celebrate First New Torah Scroll In Decades

When:
Sunday, October 15, 2017, 2:00 PM until 5:00 PM
Where:
Ida Noyes Hall -- 1212 E 59th St.
1212 E 59th St.
Chicago, IL  60637
Additional Info:
Category:
Special Event -
Registration is not Required
Payment In Full In Advance Only

From the Hyde Park Herald

Rohr Chabad Center to celebrate first new Torah scroll in decades

By TONIA HILL
Staff Writer

Rohr Chabad Center, 5700 S. Woodlawn Ave., will celebrate the completion a new Torah scroll next week at Ida Noyes Hall, 1212 E. 59th St. The completed Torah scroll will be dedicated to the memory of Dr. Gary Toback, a physician, and professor at the University of Chicago.

“Many people in Hyde Park don’t remember the last time the community celebrated the completion of a brand new Torah scroll,” Rabbi Yossi Brackman, director of the Rohr Chabad Center on Woodlawn Ave., said in a written statement. “This is truly a historic moment.”

Brackman said, “a Torah scroll is more than a beautiful piece of art, the Torah is the heritage of the Jewish people and a most fitting legacy to Dr. Gary Toback.”

A scribe writes a Torah scroll over a period of two years. The scribe writes all 304,808 letters by hand, with a feather quill on parchment.

In Noyes Hall on Sunday, Oct. 15, at 2 p.m., a Torah scribe will handwrite the final letters and the community will celebrate with a procession and parade to the Chabad Center and a dedication to Toback.

Toback, who grew up as a secular Jew in Brooklyn, took an interest in Torah study within the last 20 years. He and wife Phyllis attended weekly classes at the Chabad center. He began teaching at U. of C. in 1974 and taught for 42 years while publishing and treating patients.

Toback was well known and respected within the field of nephrology and a leader in clinical studies. In 2015, the U. of C. held a symposium on nephrology in his honor.

Toback died last July after being struck by a car during his morning jog.

“Gary was a dear friend to me and so many in our community,” Brackman said in a written statement. “He was an extraordinary man that embodied the values of the Torah. His loss is still gravely felt, and we are looking forward to celebrating his memory.”

Toback’s wife, Phyllis said she is delighted to celebrate his memory at the new scroll ceremony.

“He loved studying the Torah, and this will be a wonderful commemorative time for us after a very difficult year,” Phyllis Toback said in a written statement.

The event is free and open to the public.

t.hill@hpherald.com