It begins with parchment, quill and ink. And a command: &ldquo;Now therefore write down this song.&rdquo;</p><p>The &ldquo;song&rdquo; is the Torah, the first five books of Hebrew Scripture. The decree directs Jews to go beyond reading the Torah and to actually transcribe it.</p><p>And so last Sunday at Kehilath Israel Synagogue in Overland Park the work began, a Living Torah Project that will take a year to complete.</p><p>The project is part of the synagogue&rsquo;s 100th anniversary celebration. Kehilath Israel began in Kansas City in 1910.</p><p>Rabbi Herbert Mandl said the creation of a Torah scroll is a huge and important undertaking. Hundreds of congregation members, and others in the Jewish community, will participate, he said.</p><p>&ldquo;This is the holiest part of the Bible, and the only part written on parchment,&rdquo; Mandl said. &ldquo;And every Torah scroll around the world, although there are different styles of writing, is identical, word for word.&rdquo;</p><p>Writing out the Torah is the last commandment for Jews, No. 613, and is found in Deuteronomy 31:19. It would be impractical for every Jew to try to accomplish the task, so the tradition developed long ago that Jews may participate in the writing of the scroll performed by a scribe, Mandl said.</p><p>A Torah scroll, written in Hebrew, is painstakingly transcribed in a form of calligraphy done with quill and special ink, not something everyone could master, Mandl said.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like you can just pull out your Bic pen,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>A sofer, or scribe, does the work with others participating &mdash; from donating to the cause to actually writing some of the letters under the scribe&rsquo;s direction. There are no scribes in the Kansas City area, Mandl said, so the synagogue engaged the services of Rabbi Shmuel Miller of Los Angeles.</p><p>Several synagogue leaders helped write the first words of the Torah scroll on Sunday. </p><p>Bob Gast, congregation member and former executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City, said he was struck by &ldquo;the precision, the meticulousness by which the scribe produces each of the letters.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an art form, but more than being artistic or aesthetic, it&rsquo;s also the spirituality of the individual that imbues the letters with the added dimension of the spirit.&rdquo;</p><p>Miller will work on the Torah in Los Angeles and return to the synagogue periodically for teaching sessions.</p><p>Next November, many more members of the congregation&rsquo;s 650 families will get the opportunity to help with the scroll as it is completed. Miller will outline letters for members to trace over.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very moving,&rdquo; Gast said, &ldquo;because the Torah represents the essence of who we are, past, present and future.&rdquo;