Chabad of Simi Valley will host a "Scribes and Scrolls" workshop from 10 a.m. to noon Sun., May 9 at Rancho Tapo Community Park (off Lemon Drive), Simi Valley. The interactive workshop will teach participants about the intricate, age-old process used to produce Torah scrolls, Tefillin and Mezuzahs. Participants will have a chance to try their hand at writing their own name in Hebrew, using the traditional feather quill on authentic parchment.

The workshop will be held in conjunction with traditional Lag Ba’Omer festivities. Lag Ba’Omer is celebrated by Jews on the 33rd day from the beginning of Passover. It marks the cessation of a plague that led to the deaths of thousands of students and scholars during this period of the year in the Galilee in Northern Israel about 1,800 years ago.

It also marks the passing (during the general period) of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, author of the Zohar, a classical Kaballah work. It is described as a day which has been traditionally celebrated with communal festivities, celebrating Jewish unity and pride.

Festivities will include Jewish Mother’s Day crafts, popcorn and cotton candy and more. Admission is free (a donation is suggested).

The scribe leading the workshop, Rabbi Ahron Shaffer of Los Angeles, was raised in Simi Valley and attended Royal High School among other local schools. He pursued Jewish studies on the East Coast and eventually was ordained as a Rabbi and trained scribe.

For more information, call Rabbi Noson Gurary at (805) 577-0573.