"It is a kind of a loving relationship," said Winer, president of Etz Chayim, a small congregation of about 20 Chapel Hill area families.

The Torah comprises the five books of Jewish law and the origin story of Judaism. Some Jews believe it to be the word of God as told to Moses.

So beloved is the Torah that many touch their prayer book or tallit prayer shawl to it as it's carried through the synagogue, then kiss the book or their tallit fringe.

Even the person who parades the Torah holds the heavy parchment scroll in an embrace.

"You kind of hug it in a way," Winer explained. "Holding my wife is like holding the Torah, and holding the Torah is like holding my wife. Each is so precious."

For most of its existence, however, Etz Chayim's Torah lacked a crucial part of its adornment.

That changed a few weeks ago after a donation from members Fred and Karen

Shectman helped buy a silver breastplate that now hangs like a medallion over the front of the Torah.

The breastplate completes a "uniform" for the scriptures, said Joan Lenowitz, who has led services at Etz Chayim and is in rabbinical school in New York.

The other pieces are a crown or two small crowns that cover the heads of the Torah scroll and a mantle, or fabric covering, that slips over the Torah when it is rolled shut.

There is also a silver pointer called a yad (literally hand) to keep fingers from touching the handwritten lettering as it is read during services, she said.

The Shectmans donated money after attending their first service, Lenowitiz said. "I got an e-mail the next day: 'What do you need for the Torah?" she said.

But before they could think about dressing their Torah, congregation members had to repair it. The Torah, which was donated by a Virginia congregation, needed its lettering restored.

"The letters are the most important thing," Lenowitz explained. "If it doesn't have clear lettering, it's considered pasul and you can't read it during services."

The Etz Chayim breastplate shows a carving of the two tablets given to Moses on Mount Sinai and two lions of Judah guarding it.

The original breastplate was worn by Moses' brother, Aaron, the first high priest. It was made by the artist Bezalel, who set into it 12 stones to represent the 12 tribes (Exodus 39:14).

For Etz Chayim, the Torah, now fully adorned, also serves as a connection to the ancient temples in Jerusalem, Winer said. The first temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, the second by the Romans.

"We don't have a temple today," he said. "But we do have a Torah."