Jewish women have never been allowed to create a Torah, or even buy the parchment.
But this week, a Seattle group spearheaded by Wendy Graff has completed the first known Torah scribed by women. The project, which has been a collaboration of women from around the world, has cost $100,000 and taken nearly eight years to complete.
Earlier in the week, women arrived from Israel, Brazil, Canada and across the United States to witness the 62 parchment panels of the Women’s Torah Project being stitched together. Yesterday the women read from it during a Sabbath service for the first time at Hillel UW, near the University of Washington campus.
(WATCH the video below, and read the story w/ photos in the Seattle Times)
Photo: The project paid for the training of scribes, like Shoshana-Gugenheim.