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Con IA, tem.
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6
July 19 2012
DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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A 'Unique Mitzvah'
An Israeli Torah with roots in Detroit.
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Shelli Liebman Dorfman
Contributing Writer
M
ost Metro Detroiters involved
in a project to write a new
Torah will likely see its use
and completion only in thought, photo
and with the knowledge of how it hon-
ors Jews worldwide who have died in
acts of terror.
"Some may actually go to Jerusalem
and read from it, but
for others, being part
of this very special
mitzvah can be their
connection to Eretz
Yisrael (the Land
of Israel)',' said for-
mer Detroiter Sean
Littman, who spent
Sean Littman
the past five weeks
meeting with commu-
nity members to help fund the project.
"The Torah will be written in '
memory of all of those souls who were
killed in terrorist attacks in Israel and
abroad:' said Littman, 22, who now
lives in Tel Zion, north of Jerusalem,
with his wife, Ilana."Our aim is to
make this a Torah project that is about
unity in our Metro Detroit Jewish com-
munity by getting together individuals,
temples, synagogues, schools and orga-
nizations to participate in donating
funds to have the Torah written"
Littman has been meeting with
community members in Metro Detroit,
including Oak Park, where his parents
Marc and Shelly Littman and in-laws
Leonid and Anna Beznosov live.
The idea for the yearlong, nonprofit
Torah project came from a discus-
sion at the Jerusalem-based Ahavat
Chinam Foundation, where Littman
serves as executive director.
The organization provides financial,
physical, psychological and emotional
assistance for Israelis of all ages.
Chaim Saadon, the son of Ahavat
Chinam's founder, Rabbi Zion Saadon,
suggested the writing of the Torah.
"There are projects and groups that
give aid to the families of terror vic-
tims, but he didn't know of anything
being done for the souls of the victims,
in memory of those who perished at
the hands of terrorists simply because
they were Jewish," Littman said.
Supporting the writing of a Sefer
Torah is a "unique mitzvah," Littman
said of the Torah's 613th mitzvah to
write a Torah scroll.
"Because not everyone has the
ability to write a Torah scroll, one
can commission it through a proper
scribe said Rabbi Boruch Cohen of
the Birmingham-Bloomfield Chai
Center in Birmingham, whose congre-
gation donated to the project.
"When people participate together
in writing a Torah scroll, it generates
a beautiful spiritual harmony; people
coming together to create a Torah, which
itself binds us together, in the sense of
One People, One Torah, One God:'
Once complete, the Torah — initi-
ated with the blessings of the late Rabbi
Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg, founder and
head of Torah Ohr Yeshiva in Israel and
New York — will be housed in the syna-
gogue at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
At a cost of about $90,000, the Torah
will be written in Israel by a scribe
from Ramat Beit Shemesh. Donations
for portions of the Torah begin at
$18 for a pasuk (biblical verse), with
several entire parshiyot (weekly Torah
portions) sold in the first few weeks
since the project was begun.
"We are doing this based on chesed
(act of kindness) and Detroiters are
knows for chesed," Littman said.
Rabbi Cohen is a strong supporter
of the project.
"The calculation on my end was
simple he said. "A Torah scroll, our
holiest object, written in honor of
terror victims, people killed simply
for being Jewish, are considered our
holiest souls, to be used at the Kotel,
the Western Wall, our holiest place.
The alignment of these elements just
seemed to create a direct, clear, wide-
open pipeline to a holy cause. To me,
it was something of merit beyond any
measure, a great, great honor, and just
an irresistible opportunity
"We picked parshat Nitzavim
because of its main themes:' Cohen
said. "The eternal togetherness and
strength of the Jewish people, 'You
are standing strong today, all of you
together, seemed to fit the project."
Littman has returned to Israel, but
Yosef Sufrin is now here to continue
the project locally.
"We will go to other cities if we need
to',' Littman said. "But we are hoping
this can be a Metro Detroit Jewish
community Torah and that Detroiters
who go to Israel and go to the Wall and
see and read from the Torah can know
that they had a part in its creation."
To donate, contact Yosef Sufrin at (586)
344-6902 or yosefsufrin@grnail.corn,
or seanlittman72@gmalcom. Cost
pasuk (verse)/$18; perek (chapter)/$500;
parshah (weekly portion)/$1,800; single
book of the Torah/$18,000.
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