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Next month's celebration for a new Torah scroll represents the latest milestone in Congregation Ahavas Yisrael's continued growth within the Edison/Highland Park Orthodox community.

The synagogue will hold its "Hachnasas Sefer Torah" (welcoming of the Torah) Sept. 13 starting at 9:30 a.m. with the final corrections to the scroll's letters and a reception at the home of Silvio and Chavie Taranda, 24 Stone Street, Edison. That will be followed by an 11 a.m. processional march to the shul, at 1587 Campbell Street in Edison, with music and dancing.

Rabbi Gedaliah Jaffe and his wife are donating the Torah in honor of his late father, Marshall Jaffe, while sponsorships and donations are available for letters. The ceremony is dedicated as a merit for the Refuah Sheleimah, complete return to health, of community member and cancer patient Suri Granek (Hebrew name Chave Fruma bas Devorah Rachel).

This will be Ahavas Yisrael's first Torah to call its own, as it has borrowed a scroll from member Steve Josefovitz since its formation in 1988. Starting as a satellite of Highland Park's Congregation Ohav Emeth, with services in basements of homes (including the Josefovitz residence) for years, the congregation was eventually able to rent its current building, a facility owned by the Taranda family. Within this last year, the synagogue hired Jaffe, added a room for children's groups on Shabbat morning, and expanded its main sanctuary by a third.

"It's nice for a shul to try to be self-sufficient," Jaffe said. "The real celebration is that the shul is growing, and this was our own sefer Torah that we were able to acquire for the shul."

Ahavas Yisrael's membership is up to about 50 families and 20 associate families, Jaffe said, with packed Shabbat services. This is the synagogue's first year holding weekday Mincha and Maariv (afternoon and evening) services, as well as a weekly course in the Breslov branch of Hasidism and a monthly Jewish law class for women.

As more Orthodox families move to the Edison/Highland Park area, Ahavas Yisrael President Jeff Borell hopes the synagogue continues to attract new members by presenting a friendly environment along with proper decorum during prayers.

"I view the shul as a very warm place," Borell said. "People come back because they like the membership there."

Jaffe obtained the Torah from Knesset Bimrom Tzion, also known as Synagogue on the Palisades, which closed in Fort Lee in mid-June. Jaffe used Ahavas Yisrael's Torah fund to pay for a sofer (scribe) to make the necessary corrections.

On holidays that require reading two different Torah portions, the synagogue was previously forced to either borrow a scroll from Congregation Poile Zedek in New Brunswick or spend the time-consuming task of rolling back and forth within the one Torah it had from Josefovitz.

"When a Torah is not ours, there is always that slight doubt in the back [of our minds]," said Rabbi Daniel Davis, the shul's second vice president and chair of the Hachnasas Sefer Torah event. "If for whatever reason [Josefovitz] ends up moving, that's probably the end of us having the Torah."

Granek has been a vital part of the community since 1988, Jaffe said, volunteering for organizations such as Bikur Cholim to visit the sick and Chevra Kadisha to tend to the bodies of the deceased. On Rosh Chodesh of the Hebrew month Av, 87 women came to recite psalms for her at Jaffe's home, he said.

"When one person is suffering, we all feel the pain," Jaffe said.

By supporting Granek in a difficult time and by dedicating letters within the Torah, the community enhances this special occasion with additional merits, Jaffe said.

"We are trying to not limit this to being a personal simcha," Jaffe said. "We are trying to involve the entire community."