The students at AJA get to experience a real Torah service multiple times a week, but how did the 1948 Torah get here?

It was the generous gift of Andrew and Andrea Bowen and their daughter Mychaella, an AJA alumna.

The Torah was first commissioned by the Jews of Tripoli in Libya, but when the Jews were expelled from Libya after the founding of the state of Israel, the Torah went with them. Eventually, the Torah was lost in a synagogue attic.

When the Bowens started searching for a Torah, someone rediscovered the Libyan Torah in the attic of the synagogue, and the rabbi who knew of the Bowens’ search connected them with the long-lost Torah.

While the Torah spent a handful of years at AJA, it followed Mychaella when her family moved across the country. Now that she’s grown, the Bowens wanted to find a permanent home for the Torah and decided to give AJA the honor.

“[The AJA] really did shape her. Just being immersed in Judiasm in her day to day life… It was something that infused her soul.”