The Torah Road Trip

About this book

In September of 2007, three years after his father had passed and just before the Jewish High Holidays, Bruce Levin got a call from above. It was from his mother! His mom told him that their family's former syna-gogue in Connecticut was closing, and was looking to find a new home for one of its Torahs... the Sephardic Torah his father had donated in the early 1960s. This was an opportunity Bruce couldn't pass up. He met with the rabbi from his current temple in Northbrook, Illinois just outside of Chicago, who with open arms agreed to adopt this Torah and offered to build a special ark for it. After learning of the many restrictions involved in handling and shipping a Torah imposed by The Jewish Code of Law, Bruce ended up flying to Con-necticut, renting a Chevy Blazer SUV (dubbed the "Torah Blazer"), and driving it halfway across the country to its new home. Lo and behold, he embarked upon a Torah Road Trip! This lighthearted story of Bruce's two-day journey transporting these sacred scrolls makes for quite a fun, unforgettable ride. This adventure brings to life the story of his father, Abraham, whose character strikes a close resemblance to a fellow in the Torah by the same name. It features his father's memoirs and their relationship together. And along with some valuable learnings from the Torah itself, reveals some of the secrets of what it takes to be a good father.