Goshen, NY — Laughter, dancing and prayer accompanied the Chabad Center of Orange County’s Torah dedication, a critical step toward recognition as a religious community.
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About 300 Jews attended yesterday’s ceremony at the Goshen Harness Racing Museum. Rabbis, lawyers and businessmen wrote on the scroll with a quill pen, as is customary.
Chabad Center of Orange County was started about three years ago with the arrival of Meir Borenstein and his wife, Rivkie, missionaries from the Lubovitch sect of Hasidism.
“For us, the Torah is not a dead letter; for us, the Torah is a living being,” said special guest Rabbi Azriel Chaiken, Rivkie’s grandfather, who holds a high position among the Lubovitch leaders in Ukraine. The rabbi was recalling a conversation he had with Ukrainian government leaders, who wanted to better understand why they should help Jews restore hundreds of Torahs that were nearly destroyed during the nation’s Soviet occupation. [record]