The Shabbat Tent was filled with song as a group of young Jews gathered to celebrate Shabbat in the desert, during Phish Fest, a music and camping festival attracting thousands of Jews amid the tens of thousands of participants. We lifted a miniature Torah from a hardened plastic box. The parchment was cracked and faded, the deep grooves worn in the wood of the holders revealed its great age.
“Rabbi, is this your Torah?†Asked a festival-goer.
“No, this Torah is over 100 years old. I borrowed it from a Judaica collector I know – he was the only one who would let his Torah go out to the desert.â€
“Rabbi – you need a Festival Torah!â€
It was one of those “eureka†moments. Yes, we need a Torah!
This means commissioning the writing of a Torah that we can bring to young people that they can identify with as their own. Not an antique Torah, not a borrowed Torah, but a Festival Torah that accompanies us on our journeys to Jewlicious Festivals and Jewish Holiday Festivals to Music Festivals in the mountains and deserts accross America.
As we observe Holocaust Memorial Week, what better way to honor the memory of those Jews and Jewish communities destroyed during the Holocaust than to write a Torah that is part of creating a dynamic and vibrant young Jewish community?
Holocaust Memorial Week moves us to unify, connect, and inspire the next generation, strengthening the us from inside. Yom Hashoah is a call to reach every young Jew and make a place for them in the community.
With this goal, JConnect is launching the Festival Torah Project. We need your help.
The JConnect Festival Torah will be featured at:
• High Holiday programs in Los Angeles that offer an open and inspiring way to experience the High Holidays.
• Shabbat Tents at national music and camping festivals where we celebrate Shabbat.
• Camp Jewlicious Grassroots Leadership Summit where young adults learn organizing and leadership skills.
• Jewlicious Festivals, America’s largest Jewish festivals for students and young adults, where a thousand festival-goers celebrate and explore their Jewish heritage.
Please help us honor the past and build the future by becoming a sponsor. Add your energy and your vision by naming a book, a parsha, a column or any part of the Torah in memory of a loved one.
We appreciate the support you have shown by participating in our programs, and through your generosity in this project.
Please help us to write a new chapter for the Jewish community.
Eitz Hayim He — It is a Tree of Life.
SEE BELOW THE BREAK DEDICATE A CHAPTER, A WORD, EVEN A LETTER IN MEMORY OF A LOVED ONE!
To donate a word ($10) or letter ($1), please use DONATE button below.
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