Found: One used Torah scroll, good condition, albeit not kosher

by Lori Silberman Brauner
Special to NJ Jewish News

It was the end of June when a Maplewood resident walking his dog stumbled upon an object not ordinarily found in the green rolling hills of Essex County’s South Mountain Reservation.

After realizing that the object, found next to garbage cans at a rest area off Brookside Drive, appeared to be an item of Jewish significance, he knocked on the door of his neighbors, Chris and Pierre Rakib, who are members of Congregation Beth El in South Orange.

The Rakibs studied the item and identified it as a Torah scroll.

Although the cover was off, “it looks brand-new,” said Pierre Rakib, noting that the scroll was dry and in good condition and that it could not have been outside for very long, given the recent rainstorms.

Embroidered on the blue cover, found next to the scroll, were two clues to its provenance: the name, in English, of a “Jennifer Langer,” and under Langer’s name, in Hebrew, the word “Masada” and the Jewish year 5751 — 1990-91 in the Gregorian calendar.

Armed with the information, the Rakibs began to contact nearby residents with that last name, but were unable to find anyone who had lost a Torah scroll.

Word began spreading on synagogue e-mail lists in West Orange and Teaneck. Area rabbis were made aware of the situation.

The scroll itself, though, is quite small; Chris Rakib said it measures only 17 inches in height from the top of one knob to the bottom of the other.

In the end, the found scroll proved to be what is known as a “souvenir Torah.” Rabbis Geoffrey Spector and Adam Rosenbaum of Temple Beth Shalom in Livingston, where Chris Rakib works, told her that it is the kind of scroll that that is given to children who have their b’nei mitzva ceremonies on top of the Masada archaeological site in Israel.

The Hebrew letters are on paper, not parchment; therefore, it is not considered “kosher” for use in the synagogue (and not worth the tens of thousands of dollars that a full-size kosher Torah scroll can command).

Still, the Rakibs would like to reunite the scroll with Jennifer Langer, who, if she became bat mitzva in 5751, would be 27 or 28 years old. They would also like to know how the scroll ended up near the trash in a nature preserve? Even though it is not kosher, the scroll must have “sentimental value,” said Pierre Rakib.

“It’s nice if we could place it back to the family,” said Chris Rakib.

Perhaps if Jennifer Langer surfaces, the mystery will be solved.