{"id":31563,"date":"2026-02-27T19:58:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T19:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-news\/?p=31563"},"modified":"2026-03-16T20:53:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T20:53:58","slug":"macalester-welcomes-a-torah-scroll-of-its-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/2026\/02\/macalester-welcomes-a-torah-scroll-of-its-own\/","title":{"rendered":"Macalester Welcomes a Torah Scroll of Its Own"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a cold Sunday evening in February, a lively procession wound its way through the streets of St. Paul. Beginning at Portland and Pascal avenues, members of Macalester College\u2019s Jewish community carried a Torah scroll toward campus, tracing a path through the neighborhood that it had lived in decades before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dance and song broke out on campus as the procession reached its destination\u2014Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel. For the participants, there was much to celebrate: for the first time, Macalester\u2019s Jewish community would have a Torah of its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just love dancing with Torah,\u201d said Macalester Rabbi Emma Kippley-Ogman, who has served as the college\u2019s Jewish and interfaith chaplain for nearly a decade. \u201cIn that circle, with people of all ages, it\u2019s not about how fast you can go, it\u2019s not about how fancy your footsteps are, it\u2019s about actually joining your heart with the person next to you to music, moving in space.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lia Grant \u201924 carries Macalester\u2019s new Torah in a procession towards the Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel. (David J. Turner)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That distinct spirit of togetherness could be felt throughout the Hachnashat Sefer Torah\u2014a scroll welcoming celebration\u2014on February 22, 2026. And it was felt across the generations as Macalester alums and friends of all ages returned to campus to dance, chant, and celebrate alongside current students, staff, and faculty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gabi Isaac-Herzog \u201922 carrying the Torah during a moment of celebration at the scroll welcoming celebration. (David J. Turner)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Peggy Davis \u201972, who helped found the original Hebrew House on campus, shared her hope with attendees that the Torah will serve as a living symbol of the same sense of community and togetherness she and her peers worked to build more than fifty years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hope that Jewish learning, wisdom, and community is as strong a support for today\u2019s students as it was for me, given the difficult time in which we are living,\u201d Davis said. \u201cBringing the Torah here today gives the students a physical, tactile reminder of history, survival, learning and community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Peggy Davis \u201972 on the flute (left) while her husband, Yosl Kurland (right), sings during the Hachnashat Sefer Torah. (David J. Turner)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Helping welcome the Torah to its new home was Macalester Executive Vice President and Provost Lisa Anderson-Levy, who believes the sacred text will serve as a source of connection for the entire Mac community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor Jewish students and employees, this Torah offers a sense of rootedness and continuity. For those who aren\u2019t Jewish, it offers opportunities to learn, to listen, to ask questions, and to encounter a tradition different from your own,\u201d Anderson-Levy said. \u201cOne of the joys of being here at Macalester is that no text belongs only to one group; everything becomes part of a shared conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcoming Torah\u2014the Macalester way<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The welcoming celebration was the culmination of a years-long effort from across the college and beyond. Students, staff, donors, and neighboring congregations all worked together to welcome the Torah to campus. Jessica Williams \u201926, a student leader with Macalester Jewish Organization (MJO), designed a portable ark to house it, while Wade Oesterich, a carpenter with Facilities Services, built the piece using wood from retired dormitory bedframes. Demetrios Marcos Vital, a local scribe, painstakingly restored the mid-19th century text to its original splendor. And the scroll\u2019s ritual clothing\u2014a mantle and belt\u2014were designed and produced by students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Students who designed the Torah\u2019s new clothes and portable ark pose for a photo. From left to right: Miles Rakov \u201927 (mantle), Jessica Williams \u201926 (ark), Lucy Anderson \u201928 (belt), and Adrien Wright \u201925 (ark curtain), poise next to the Torah and their creations. (David J. Turner)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Miles Rakov \u201927, a chemistry major and leader with MJO, took on the Torah\u2019s mantle. Rakov has been sewing since attending a Jewish camp in fifth grade. \u201cThat we\u2019re getting a Torah of our own, and that we can dress it ourselves, with things we\u2019ve actually made, it feels really powerful,\u201d Rakov said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His design centers on Bdote, the Dakota word meaning \u201cwhere two waters come together\u201d, and the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers just three miles south of campus. \u201cConnection to the land is central to the Dakota people, and this is especially true for Bdote,\u201d Rakov said. Embroidered in blue and purple, the rivers meet at the center of the mantle in a burst of color, with beadwork and stitch shapes inspired by Dakota beadwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt represents how we grow and change at Mac and within MJO, and how, after we make this transformation together, we leave to find our place in a wider community that\u2019s always changing as well,\u201d Rakov said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lucy Anderson \u201928, another MJO leader, worked on the Torah\u2019s belt, cross-stitching a pattern inspired by the pomegranate, which is the organization\u2019s symbol. The pomegranate in Jewish tradition represents all of the mitzvot\u2014righteous actions that a person can take in their life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really cool to create an item that people are going to touch and use, potentially for decades to come,\u201d said Anderson, a geography and studio art double major. \u201cWith that comes a little bit of pressure, but it\u2019s an amazing way to contribute to the community and the people around me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Designed by current students, the Torah\u2019s new clothes on display at the welcoming ceremony. (David J. Turner)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A scroll comes home<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Macalester\u2019s new Torah may be new to campus, but this specific scroll is hardly new to the neighborhood. Believed to have originated from Moravia in the mid-19th century, the Torah was once housed at the Sons of Jacob Congregation, just blocks from campus. When that congregation closed in the early 1980s, it merged into what is now Beth Jacob Congregation in Mendota Heights\u2014and the scroll went with it. There, in need of repair, it has sat in the congregation\u2019s ark unused for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Emily Erickson \u201908 carrying Macalester\u2019s new Torah during a procession towards campus on February 22, 2026. (David J. Turner)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As demand for on-campus Jewish religious practice\u2014including shabbat and holiday services, and b\u2019nai mitzvah celebrations\u2014has grown in recent years, MJO leaders have felt the need for a scroll that the college could call its own. Stepping in to help fill that need were Howard Berkenblit and Tina Schaper, parents of MJO alum Ellie Berkenblit \u201924. The couple generously offered to provide the necessary gift to bring a Torah to Mac. When Beth Jacob graciously agreed to donate its damaged scroll, the family\u2019s gift provided the necessary funds for repair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are so grateful that our daughter Ellie was able to find a way not only to continue to nourish her Jewish identity at Mac but that she was able to find such a vibrant, impactful, supportive organization in MJO,\u201d Berkenblit and Schaper said. \u201cWith MJO now having its own Torah, generations of Mac students will have increased opportunities to learn and to pass on Jewish values and traditions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rabbi Kippley-Ogman echoes that sentiment: \u201cWelcoming a scroll is a real embodiment of the ongoing learning, wrestling, challenging, and questioning that is the core practice of Jewish community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Torah for the generations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Gabriela Helf \u201923, now in her first year of rabbinical school at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, returned to Minnesota to lead a blessing at the welcoming ceremony with fellow alum Rabbi Heather Renetzky \u201915. As a student, Helf was an MJO leader and said the experience helped light her path forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Louis Hunter \u201918 lifting the Torah during the Hachnashat Sefer Torah. (David J. Turner)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was the first place at Mac where I really found my community,\u201d Helf said. \u201cI also got a lot of practice in being a leader in a ritual setting, in a prayer setting, and in a kind of community organizing setting\u2014that was a really wonderful experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To return to community\u2014bound together by a shared sense of joy and the knowledge that this Torah would carry their community\u2019s story forward\u2014was the highlight for so many in attendance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo be in the chapel surrounded by all my friends, it\u2019s just so exciting,\u201d Helf said. \u201cAnd to be a part of a really big celebration across generations, I think we all needed that right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen reading the Torah, to get from one story to another, you have to actually pass through all the other stories, because you have to physically move the scroll past each one,\u201d Rabbi Kippley-Ogman said. \u201cIn the impermanence of the student community, this is an invitation to a sense of continuity. This story is directly connected to one that came before, even though you weren\u2019t here, even though those people are not here anymore, the thread is present.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\tCommunity members gather for the Hachnashat Sefer Torah. (David J. Turner)<\/span>\n\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\tMacalester Rabbi Emma Kippley-Ogman holds the Torah with Rabbi Barry Cytron, the previous campus rabbi, looking on. (David J. Turner)<\/span>\n\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\tCommunity members dance and sing at the Hachnashat Sefer Torah. (David J. Turner)<\/span>\n\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\tDemetrios Marcos Vital, the scribe who repaired the scroll, speaks at the welcoming ceremony. (David J. Turner)<\/span>\n\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\tCommunity members enjoy nosh, a light meal, during the welcoming ceremony. (David J. Turner)<\/span>\n\t\t\t
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