Boca Raton Synagogue Wins Guinness World Record |
Guinness Book of
World Records Names Boca Raton Synagogue
Holder of World’s Largest Talit
|
|
March 26, 2015 (Boca
Raton, Florida) – Boca Raton Synagogue and Guinness Book of
World Records recently announced that the South Florida
synagogue holds the record for the worlds largest Talit, Jewish
prayer shawl. |
|
The idea for a large Talit first
came up in 2012. “We had an idea to create a massive Talit to
be used on the holiday of Simchat
Torah, when it is customary to have all of the children,
under the age of Bar and Bat-Mitzvah, come under the Talit and
receive a special blessing,” said Matthew Hocherman,
Executive Director of BRS. “ In previous years, men would
use their personal prayer shawls and hold them together to
make one very large talit.” |
|
The Talit was
created not only for the special prayer but also as a way
for parents and grandparents to add their children’s names
to it. “The idea was to be able to have a child under the Talit,
look up and see his or her name,” added Hocherman. |
|
The Synagogue
enlisted the help of Tami Katz of Boca Judaica to create the
1,471.74 sq. ft. Talit that
was unfurled for the first time in 2013. After its second
year in use, Mr. Hocherman realized it was probably the
largest of its kind and contacted Guinness World Records. On
March 5, 2015, the synagogue received notification that they
did in fact set a world record with their prayer shawl. |
|
“We are blessed to
have close to a thousand children in this Synagogue, which
necessitated a Talit of
this size,” said Rabbi Efrem Goldberg. “While we are proud
of the record, we hope to break it ourselves because we will
need a bigger one to fit even more children.” |
In honor of their
grandchildren, three corners of the prayer shawl have been
generously sponsored by Dr. Robert & Judith Bruckstein, Dr.
Merv & Elaine Jacobs and Saul & Bobbie Friedman.
|
 |
Those interested in
sponsoring the fourth corner or adding their children’s names to
the Talit should
contact Jamie Lebersfeld at
jamie@brsonline.org
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Back to Palm
Beach Society News |
|
| |