(VIDEO AND PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

The Israel Goldstein Youth Village (Chavat Ha’Noar Ha’Tzioni) is one of the oldest schools of Jerusalem. on Sunday, 3 Sivan, was the first time in the school’s history that it celebrated the inauguration of a Sefer Torah. The Torah was written thanks to over 300,000 good deeds of Jews from Israel and abroad and was dedicated in honor of the 50th Anniversary of Jerusalem’s reunification.

Anyone who performed a good deed was asked to report it on a website designated especially for this purpose; and for every good deed reported, a letter was added to the Sefer Torah.

The Progressive Party operated in Israel from the 1950s until the late 1980s, with its platforms promoting freedom of religion and pluralism. It founded the youth village. Israel Goldstein Youth Village was established as a school for new immigrants, and even today, many young immigrants from France, Ukraine, Australia, the USA and others join its ranks. Israel Goldstein Youth Village is rated one of the top secular schools in Jerusalem.

The hachnasas Sefer Torah was attended by hundreds of male and female students who inscribed the last letters of the scroll. Former Chief Rabbi of Israel and current Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Shlomo Amar attended the ceremony. Rabbi Amar addressed the audience: “The Talmud tells us that the best way to avoid hardships during the [period of the] coming of the Messiah is to combine Torah study with charity. How can these two things be combined? This Torah scroll is the answer. A Torah scroll written entirely through good deeds. It is an honor for this school that we are all here together completing this unique scroll. The message for everyone here is to increase your Torah study and charitable endeavors.

Deputy Executive Director of Israel Goldstein Youth Village Mr. Danny Haim said: “Our school connects many different olim from many different countries. We therefore decided to focus on our Jewish identity, which is the common base of our student body. We represent the Jewish identity in all its shades and colors. You can find today in the audience people with a black kippah, a knitted dati leumi one, a white kippah or bare head. Speaking about our Jewish identity draws from our sincere respect toward everyone. Here, there is mutual respect that enables both differences and sharing.”

The Sefer Torah was written within the framework of Jerusalem50, a unique project initiated conjunctively by the Afikim Foundation and Orot, two organizations that actively endorse Jewish education in Israel and the Jewish world. Both organizations are directed by chareidi rabbonim; Rabbi Raphael Butler manages Afikim, and Rabbi Yehuda Polishuk directs Orot. The decision to complete the writing of the Torah and mark the celebration in honor of 50 years of a unified Jerusalem is a unique phenomenon in the Haredi world as well.

Since the entire Sefer Torah was written through good deeds, Rabbis Butler and Polishuk determined that it would be most appropriate to culminate the project and dedicate the scroll in a manner that would likewise promote charity and generosity. The Hachnasas Sefer Torah ended at the Zaka office that assists bereaved families, and the plan is to lend this Torah scroll to houses of mourning as needed.

Rabbi Yehuda Polishuk remarked that “The Torah belongs to all parts of the Jewish nation and cannot be seen as belonging to one group or another. It is our mission to make the Torah accessible to all parts of the Jewish people and to intensify the feeling that the Torah is, indeed, relevant to all the Jewish people, a sentiment that, unfortunately, has been somewhat lost over the past years.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: Yechezkel Itkin)