Two men stood in the lobby of the Ingeteri Hotel in Havana, Cuba, each with a Torah roller in hand. Kelman, one of the two who removed the Torah from its rollers, was not displaying the text in order to attract an audience. The Torah, and a Purim Megillah belonging to a Cuban congregation, are now in Kelman's Berkeley office, waiting for his skilled hand to deem them kosher again. Kelman is a sofer , or religious scribe. Letters are blurred.
Ink is cracked.
The Megillah should take about a day. Kelman trained as a sofer in Israel in 1967, concurrent with his rabbinic studies. He made it an avocation, rather than a career. So it was mere habit for Kelman to ask the same during his visit to Congregation Adath Israel in Havana. It was the congregation's second organized trip to Cuba.