Ocala, Fla., bills itself as the “horse capital of the world.” Pickup trucks and trailers are standard around Marion County, and farms and pastureland – as well as race tracks – dot the landscape.
But in the midst of the thoroughbred wilderness sits a Chabad-Lubavitch center with a distinction of its own: This past Saturday, the combination synagogue and community center celebrated its status as the first location to use a newly-dedicated Torah scroll commissioned way north of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Dedicated at The Hampton Synagogue by the philanthropic Kaylie family in honor of the 100th birthday of grandmother Tess Kaylie, the “Travelling Torah” will make the rounds of Jewish communities throughout the world. It arrived at Rabbi Yossi and Chanie Hecht’s Chabad of Marion County last week.
“Our grandmother is a very modest person,” says Roberta Kaylie. “We wanted to find a way to honor her that would be special. This will help people all over the world, wherever they have a need for a Torah scroll.”
Written in Israel, the special scroll took just under a year to complete. Rabbi Eli Goodman, director of Chabad of the Beaches in Long Beach, N.Y., coordinated the project.
“Our goal is to help and inspire these communities,” says Goodman. “We hope using the scroll for a year will provide the impetus they need to fundraise for a permanent one of their own.”
So why Ocala?
Answers the rabbi: “We were looking for a Chabad House that was new enough to not have their own scroll yet, but established enough to have a sufficient quorum for organized public services.”
Home to the oldest standing synagogue in Florida, Ocala’s aging Jewish community got its first permanent Chabad House a year-and-a-half ago.
“In the beginning, we only had a minyan once a month,” says Yossi Hecht. “But we rapidly grew to the point where we now have one three times a month.
“Everyone here is very excited,” he continues. “We’ve had to borrow a Torah scroll until now, and we are very grateful for the opportunity to have our own.”
Goodman says post-Ocala locations are still being debated.
“We looked into Russia,” laughs Goodman, “but discovered it wouldn’t be so easy to get it back out. It will go where it’s needed. Hopefully, it will travel more than any other Torah in the world.”
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