Community celebrates Torah written in memory of Thomas W. and Miriam Pearlman

It doesn’t happen very often in Providence, but it did this year – in fact, twice in two weeks. On Sunday, May 28, the Providence community welcomed a new Torah, written in memory of Thomas W. and Miriam Pearlman. The Torah was dedicated by NEAT, Inc., an organization founded in 1968, with the help of the Pearlmans, which is dedicated to supporting and promoting Torah education in Providence.

Tom and Miriam Pearlman were foundational in maintaining the Torah community in Providence. They were also instrumental in supporting the Providence Hebrew Day School and in offering Jewish education to children in Rhode Island. 

The Pearlmans persisted despite being told over and over that it could not be done. They understood that, for the community to thrive, there needed to be Torah education at the highest level. Therefore, in 1984, working with NEAT, they helped found a post-high-school yeshiva in Providence, the New England Rabbinical College. 

In 2004, the Pearlmans supported the creation of the Providence community kollel, Rosh Kollel, to strengthen Jewish identity and Torah learning in the broader Jewish community.

In a display of gratitude, these three institutions and local offshoots – Congregation Sha’arei Tefilla and Project Shoresh  –  joined together to celebrate NEAT’s dedication of the new Torah in the Pearlmans’ honor. 

The event began under tents on the lawn of the New England Rabbinical College. Music and singing accompanied the completion of the writing of the Torah by local scribe Rabbi Shmuel Taitelbaum. Then, singing and dancing filled the streets and torches lit the air as the new scroll, under a white huppah, was carried and escorted by community members young and old for more than half a mile to its new home, the Providence Hebrew Day School.

The resident Torah scrolls were carried out to the street to welcome the new Torah to its home. As the crowd entered the shul, somehow seemingly not tired by the parade, they burst into more spirited dancing until the Torah was placed in the ark.

Rabbi Menachem Z.  Weissmann, coordinator of the event, welcomed everyone and introduced NEAT board member Russell Raskin, who shared his impressions of the mark the Pearlmans made on the community.

Rabbi Yissochor Frand, of Baltimore, then addressed the crowd, explaining one reason the Torah is called a “song” at the time we are given the commandment to write it. He said that the root of the Hebrew word shira, which means song, is the word yashar, which means straight. Rabbi Frand, who knew the Pearlmans through their son, Joshua, who had been his student, spoke about how being “straight” is a characteristic that was personified by the Pearlmans – and thus the writing of a Torah in their memory was very appropriate. He also said that music appeals to all ages and stages, just as the same Torah is learned and enjoyed by a 6-year-old, a 26-year-old and a 66-year-old.

The Torah dedication was the second in Providence in May. On May 21, at Congregation Beth Sholom, in Providence, a new Torah was completed and a festive procession was held.

Dr. Kayla Hack is a teacher at Providence Hebrew Day School.