THE JEWISH COMMUNITY
at UC Irvine recently celebrated a great milestone event as they welcomed a new Torah to UCI. The Yaeger-Bisgay Unity Torah as its been fondly named, has been a successful endeavor, with collective support from over a hundred UCI Alumni, current students and community members.
The Torah concept was initiated by Brett Friedman, one of the founding supporters of Chabad at UCI, and was commissioned to be written in the Holy city of Chevron, Israel. Devin Yaeger-Bisgay, a young Alumni, dedicated the Torah in honor of his parents, with hundreds of others dedicating Parshiot, verses, the silver ornaments and more. It has truly been a great display of Jewish Unity.
The Hachnasot Torah- or Welcome Torah event, was witnessed by the Jewish community on campus, many friends, and the campus at large. Words were shared from the Chancellor’s office, as well as the writing of the last few letters in the Torah. The Torah was then wrapped and paraded on Campus with much fanfare, song and dance. Many onlookers joined the festivities & learned about the significance and pride in a new Torah.
The Unity Torah Event was covered by many media sources including the LA Times, OC Register, New University Paper, and more. Come see the Torah being used at a future UCI Shabbat Service.
Miriam Van Raalte is a contributing writer to Jlife magazine.
