By COLlive reporter
Photos by Meir Alfasi
Residents of the growing Lubavitch community in Tel Aviv warmly greeted R’ Yakov and Chava Ohana from Booklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood this week.
The Ohana family donated a new Torah scroll in memory of their grandparents to a new minyan at Chabad of North Tel Aviv, led by veteran Shliach Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Piekarski.
Tel Aviv’s Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau and Rabbi Pinchos Shapiro, Rabbi of the Sadigora shul in Tel Aviv, were joined by members and residents in writing the final letters in the scroll.
Ohana’s daughter and son-in-law, Rabbi Shimon and Esther Gadasi lead the neighboring Chabad of Afeka A and made the connection between their parents and Rabbi Piekarski.
Attending the celebration were their siblings Mrs. Racheli Rosenfeld of Crown Heights, Mrs. Rivky Kiyakov of Queens and R’ Shimmy Ohana of London, England.
A joyous procession then took to the streets with the new Torah and an older one being paraded to the Chabad shul. Among those joining in the celebration was Gideon Sa’ar, the noted Minister of the Interior, who arrived with his daughter.
At the shul, following affixing a mezuzah and hakafos dancing, participants sat down for a festive meal, as customary. From there, Yakov and Chava Ohana headed directly to the airport to make it in time for a pinyon haben for their grandchild.
Many years ago in Russia at a Hachnosas Sefer Torah someone seing the tremendous simcha of the Rebbe Rashab N”A wanted him to explain why such a great simcha since this new Torah was not the first or only Torah in town…….his response was simply ” A Torah, A Torah”. Tzedaka and Chessed are certainly very important, and people need to be helped, but I think each Neshama is drawn to the Mitzvos it should perform and people should not be chastised for performing a mitzvah whether practical by your standards or not. We should think about feeding the poor… Read more »
So nice to see all the grandchildren there, it’s all about priorities
It is so beautiful to see how many difrent typs of Jews where at the simcha
To # 2 please be careful with your words and expressions in regards to a Sefer Torah. No Sefer Torah is C”V Needles. You certainly made a very valid point. Both the physical and spiritual nourishment of all jewish children are of the greatest priority today as they always have been and that point and priority should be communicated and expressed time and time again.
Mazal tov! Mazal tov!!!
This is a new recent craze and insanity, that everyone who has “extra money to burn” keeps on writing, more and more and more needless Sefer Torah’s. Hardly a week goes by without us hearing about another Siyum Sefer Torah and yet another and yet another. Wake Up, People! There is no shortage of Sefer Torah’s today, in C.H. and not even in Russia! There is however many families in Crown Height who are going Hungry and the Money spent on un-needed Sefer Torah’s would be better spent feeding our local starving children. specially at this time of the year,… Read more »
Mazal Tov