Har Sinai Congregation in Owings Mills, Maryland is home to seven Torah scrolls ranging in age from 80 years to over 300 years old. All Torah scrolls require careful maintenance and periodic repair, particularly older ones. This year they have embarked on a project to restore all of their scrolls.

You can learn more about the restoration project on a special section of their website.

One of the most exciting parts of the project was discovering that one of the Torah scrolls was never completed – 164 letters remained unfilled since its creation in Eastern Europe more than 100 years ago. Congregants were invited to come and fill in the letters, thereby participating in one of the 613 mitzvot, the commandment to write a Torah. On June 13, 2010 (6-13-2010), the process was completed in a Siyyum, a completion ceremony.

Read the press coverage of the project in the June 11, 2010 online edition of the Baltimore Sun.