Mr. Speaker, on Sunday, May 27, I was honoured to attend the dedication of the Penn Torah at Temple Shalom in my riding of Winnipeg South Centre. Temple Shalom is the only reform synagogue in Winnipeg and it is celebrating its 25th year in its current building in my riding.
The Penn Torah is the first Torah scroll ever written in Winnipeg and the first ever written by a female Canadian soferet or scribe. Irma Penn dedicated the last two years to this painstaking endeavour, ensuring that every letter is accurate and readable, that there is equal weight to the black lettering on the white parchment, black fire on white fire. The soferet must have a keen eye, strong intellect, incredible focus, great discipline and tremendous patience, and she did.
Today, we congratulate Irma Penn and Temple Shalom for this new creation, the Penn Torah, which symbolizes a renewal of dedication to Judaism and to our community.