Hello,
For those of you looking for an update on the Women's Torah Project-- here is the latest from the project organizer:

July 2008

Dear Women’s Torah Project supporter,

You haven’t heard from us in a long time and this letter is intended to fill in some of the gaps.

As you know from our letter to you last fall, another woman-scribed Torah was completed last year. Without a doubt, Kadima’s Women’s Torah Project (WTP) opened the door to that and all subsequent woman-scribed Torahs. The Women’s Torah Project is the Bereshit of Women-scribed Torahs; Eve to all who have come already and all who will come after.

In the words of one of the WTP artists,

“Your words 'first to start' reminded me of Nachson, another 'first to start' in Jewish tradition. While Moshe, Aaron, even Miriam, are generally given more mention and focus, Nachson was 'first to start'. Midrash suggests without his bold first step, amcha (our people) may have remained on the distant shore, unaware and unredeemed. We can finish our 'first to start' Torah—not as the first or last word of Torah—but as something which, like Nachson, heralds redemption for amcha. Yashar Koach l'chem.”

Shoshana Gugenheim, our lead scribe, has developed her writing speed so that she can finish approximately two yeriot a month. Shoshana sends us a photograph of each complete, beautiful yeriah. She has now written 14 yeriot and Rachel Reichhardt, the scribe working in Brazil, has finished three, out of a total of 62 in the Torah. Rachel will be bringing her panels with her when she visits the US later this summer and will pick up three more parchments to continue her work.

We are actively seeking more women to participate as scribes. If you know of anyone who is interested in becoming a soferet, but hasn’t completed her training because she hasn’t believed she would be able to practice her calling, please encourage her to complete her studies and let her know that we might be able to incorporate her work and the work of many more qualified sofrot in this Women’s Torah.

Now, for the challenges.

To make a long and excruciating story short, despite her continual assurances of progress, and despite accepting payment in full, our first scribe, Aviel (now Avielah) Barclay ultimately completed very few yeriot. Even worse, because of mistakes she made, only two of Avielah’s yeriot can be incorporated into the Women’s Torah, and we have to make physical and scribal adjustments to use even those.

Kadima attempted to initiate mediation with Avielah in 2005 in a manner consistent with Jewish law and tradition; it wasn’t until late 2006 that Avielah agreed to enter into mediation with us, using Rabbi Daniel Siegel from the Jewish Renewal movement as our mediator. In late 2007, with little hope of mutual agreement, Reb Daniel reluctantly recommended that we simply call it quits. Following careful consideration, the Kadima Board of Directors has concluded that the initiation of litigation to recover damages from Avielah for breach of contract is not a viable option at this time.  This approach would be very costly, both in terms of time and money, and even if we won the judgment, we have no realistic expectation of collecting any restitution from Avielah.

During the two-and-a-half years that we were struggling to set up mediation and engaged in it, we declined to publicize our troubles with Avielah, in part because we wanted to give her every opportunity to make things right.  We now know that, based on both our experience and on reports of similar failed promises she has made to other congregations and communities, Avielah is unable to move forward to contribute to the Women’s Torah Project. 

That painful chapter is finally behind us and we are looking forward to finishing this Women’s Torah—the first woman-scribed Torah commissioned in modern times; the first Torah to be intentionally scribed by a partnership of women; and the first Torah to be supported, written and adorned by an international community of women and men sustaining one another through the hard work of transforming ideals into reality.

Thank you for your patience and we are grateful for your continued support for the Women’s Torah Project. 

Sincerely,

Wendy Graff,
Director, Kadima Women’s Torah Project

Working to create, celebrate and learn from the first sefer Torah created by women
www.womenstorah.com