TIME SHARE TORAH

Dateline Miami, Sunday Oct. 1, 2006
The Miami Herald newspaper in a front page story tells the tale of a Reform shul down there that came up with a unique way of raising money. They sell time shares in one of the shul’s Torah scrolls.

We kid you not. You can buy a weekly parsha for a bargain $1800 and have the Torah in your home for the week of the parsha you bought. Or, you can buy a whole book- say, Leviticus, for example- for a hefty $18,000.
So what do you get for your money?

The rabbi brings the Torah to your home in his special Torah golf cart carrier, and opens it up to show you your parshah. He also reviews for you the rules (do not drop it, do not touch the parchment, etc.). The rest is up to the family.

One family held a fancy, catered dinner party and then displayed the Torah on their grand piano. One mother bought her daughter’s bat mitzvah parsha and allowed the young lady to host the Torah in her bedroom over night. One couple held a tea party for eighteen kids and their parents. They had the kids take maracas and tambourines while they danced around around a mango tree, all the while singing the Tree Of Life song. Afterwards, they decorated Torah shaped cookies.

According to the rabbi of the shul, selling time shares in the Torah “demystifies the Torah.” He further stated, “There’s a tendency to treat it (ie, the Torah) almost like an idolatrous object. This makes it more like a family member.”

One family asked the rabbi if they could still bring in (trefe) Chinese food into their home while they were hosting the Torah. He told them to figure it out!
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So there you have it. Cozy on up to good ol’ Uncle Torah. No one has ever described a sefer Torah as being avuncular, but, hey, you never know.

Once again, we could never make up this stuff- our imagination just isn’t that fertile!