Rabbi Leib Scheiner was whimsically but lovingly known in Greater Boston as “the supermarket rabbi.” This quiet man, who was a member of our Shaloh House synagogue and community since its inception in Brighton, was a great Torah scholar. But Rabbi Scheiner’s love of G‑d and Torah was matched by a different passion – a boundless love for his fellow Jews, especially those who weren’t lucky enough to know about our Torah.
Every Thursday, Rabbi Scheiner would take a long shopping list to Shaw’s or Stop and Shop to buy food for Shabbos. He would return home with an equally long list of Jews he’d met while shopping whom he invited to his house for Shabbos.
Fascinatingly, people who wouldn’t dream of accepting invitations from a complete stranger nevertheless responded to this rabbi whose face radiated kindness. Lives were transformed as a result. People who had no acquaintance with Torah grew to love it, and those who shied away from their Judaism became proud Jews.
On Sunday, May 18 we will be completing the writing of a new Torah scroll in Rabbi Scheiner’s memory. We would be honored if you would join us and help sponsor this project.
One People • One Community • One Torah
The Torah is the most precious article in Jewish life. It is perfectly intact just as we received it over 3,300 years ago. The first presentation was shown to Moses, by G‑d, “Written in black fire over white fire.” Moses transcribed from that Torah of fire while G‑d dictated the words. This very Torah was placed in the Holy Ark and twelve additional Torah scrolls were gifted to each of the tribes as a blueprint for our future. Throughout our history, not one of the Torah’s 304,805 letters has ever been changed. The words we read in synagogue today are exactly those recorded by Moses. Indeed, as every feature of eternal wisdom was prescribed by G‑d, the chain of Torah remains unbroken from its inception at Sinai through our generation.
Our sages have taught that each and every Jew has a letter in the Torah which corresponds to his or her soul and spiritual identity. Just as each letter is an essential part of the Torah, so too, each and every Jew is of utmost importance and constitutes an essential and integral part of K’lal Yisroel, the Jewish people.
The very last mitzvah in the Torah is to write a Torah scroll. By dedicating a letter, word, or sentence for yourself, your children, family members or friends, it is as if you have written your own Torah scroll. Thus, the writing of a new Torah is a noble community endeavor and privilege
