History
The Women's Torah Project (WTP) produced the first Torah scroll scribed and embellished entirely by women. Commissioned by Seattle-based Kadima, a Jewish Reconstructionist community, the Women's Torah was produced by six female scribes on three continents. Begun in 2003, the project was completed in Seattle in 2010 under the leadership of Wendy Graff. Kadima had been raising funds to purchase a Sefer Torah for several years when, in the early 2000s, the community’s Judaic Director suggested instead that Kadima commission a Torah scribed by a woman. Traditional Jewish law had excluded women from scribing a Torah, much as women had been excluded from the rabbinate and cantorial positions.Graff, Wendy (Fall 2006) "Three Thousand Years is Long Enough to Wait: Scribing a Women's Torah" The New Light, Vol XLIX Number 1 (Can’t find a url for this, which is a bummer) (That legitimacy is still debated within the Orthodox community.) Determined to redress that exclusion, Kadima underwrote the training of two women to become Torah scribes (soferot ronounced sof’rot fem. sing: soferet), one of whom, Shoshana Gugenheim of Jerusalem, was hired to be the lead scribe for the Women’s Torah Project. Rachel Reichhardt, based in São Paulo, Brazil, certified as a soferet by the Seminario Rabinico Latino Americano in Buenos Aires in 2004, was the second scribe to join the project. Eventually Linda Coppleson of West Orange, NJ; Rabbi Hannah Klebansky of Jerusalem, Irma Penn of Winnipeg, Alberta, Canada; and Julie Seltzer, of Berkeley, CA, all contributed to completing panels for the Torah. Scribe Jen Taylor Friedman of New York checked and made minor corrections to the completed panels. The panels were also checked by experts in Jerusalem.Implements & Embellishments
Seven women artists from around the world created embellishments for Kadima’s Women’s Torah. Laurel Robinson of Atlanta, GA, was the first artist involved, contributing a carved wooden yad (pointer) and storage box that is inscribed with a poem by poet and liturgist Marcia Falk. sooze bloom deLeon grossman of Vashon Island, WA, designed and created the pomegranate-motif Torah mantle.Johnson, Natalie (26 October 2010). “An Island Woman Sews a Historic Mantle for a Holy Book”. (Consecration
The Women’s Torah was consecrated on Saturday, October 16, 2010, and read for the first time during a Shabbat Service and Siyyum (completion celebration) led by Kadima Liturgy Co-chair Sandra Silberstein; the Torah Service was conducted by Rabbi Jane Littman. The first readers (in order) were: Sima Kahn, Neal Sofian, Lois Gaylord, Sandra Silberstein, Leah Knopf, Douglas Brown, Rachel Reichhardt, Wendy Graff, and Mollie Price. It resides with the Kadima Reconstructionist Community of Seattle, WA. The current Women’s Torah Project coordinator is Christie Markowitz Santos.References
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