From mosheb at sefer-torah.com Fri Apr 2 10:07:15 2004 From: mosheb at sefer-torah.com (Moshe Burt) Date: Fri Apr 2 10:06:28 2004 Subject: [Sefer-torah-network-news] The Sefer Torah Network Newsletter, Vol. 1, Number 19 Message-ID: Sefer Torah Network News Volume 1, Number 19 2 April, 2004 Shalom Friends; Welcome to the 19th edition of the Sefer Torah Network News list.. I'm pleased to announce that the Hochnossis Sefer Torah party celebrating placement in the Givat Nof Harim hilltop community of Yishuv Eli of the Sefer Torah transferred by the Goldstein family of Queens, NY took on the 24th of March at 8:15 PM. Please view the website and read this newletter for coverage of the event and to view pictures from the small Transfer Ceremony which took place on Monday, 19 January, 2004 at the Plaza Hotel in Jerusalem as well as from my recent Shabbos in Givat Nof Harim. A full layout of pictures as well as a multi-media report will be viewable from the website soon. The Sefer Torah Recyclng Network expresses it's great appreciation to the Goldstein family for their kindness in providing a Sefer Torah for a needy location in EretzYisrael. The community of Givat Nof Harim, east of Eli in the Shomron, consists of 35 families and had been without a Sefer Torah for a number of years. The Sefer Torah Recycling Network continues to be active on various fronts having received several very positive responses to the publicity regarding the event in Yishuv Eli. Raising the necessary funds for two restorations of Sifrei Torah for Homesh and the kehilla on Bat Ayin is presently THE central focus of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network. So far, the project has thankfully received donations from many sponsors but is still far short of the funds necessary to defray these restoration costs. (approximately $ 7,500 still needs to be raised for the restorations of both Sifrei Torah.) In addition, recent publicity surrounding Israeli Government pronouncements concerning possible dismantlements and relinquishments of Gaza and certain Yishuvim inYehuda & Shomron make a compelling case for full-court pressing for expeditious donations of both Sifrei Torah and funding for restorations of Torahs for the needy, endangered locations. During Chol HaMo'ed, I will be participating in a Tiyul to Gaza and will talk to residents while there. More on this to follow in subsequent newsletters. Toward the bottom of this newsletter, please read the brief descriptions of many more such locations throughout Israel currently either without their own Sifrei Torah or lacking sufficient number of Sifrei Torah. This same information is available by clicking on "About The Sefer Torah Recycling Network" page of the website which will provide a history of the project as well as details on the various needy organizations. It is vital that The Sefer Torah Recycling Network receive seed-funding as well as ongoing cash donations and a constant influx of Sifrei Torah. For this reason, we seek philanthropists, philanthropic "Angels" who recognize the need for an ongoing clearing house where Sifrei Torah can be donated or acquired, restorations completed and placements of Sifrei Torah made in needy locations throughout EretzYisrael. In this way, The Sefer Torah project will become an active, ongoing, serious organization which solicits and receives donations of Sifrei Torah, or acquires S'forim for cash for placement in needy locations throughout Israel. In the process, such donations will avail ongoing employment to needy Sofrim to repair and restore posul Sifrei Torah for placement in the growing number of needy locations in Israel which request help in acquiring a Sefer Torah. I hold that donating a Sefer Torah, or donating the funds necessary in order for The Sefer Torah Recycling Network to become an ongoing, serious organization which places Sifrei Torah in many of the hundreds of needy locations throughout EretzYisrael is to tangibly act to possess EretzYisrael as your own. There are other noteworthy developments to report in The Sefer Torah Network News list beyond the upcoming Hochnossis Sefer Torah Party. Please note that The Sefer Torah Recycling Network has entered into affilation with CDTorah.com which markets hundreds of Torah lectures and shiurim on standard audio CDs. Now you can help The Sefer Torah Recycling Network with a click-thru from this newsletter, or from The Sefer Torah Recycling Network website to the CDTorah.com site and order audio CD's of shiurim given by notables such as Rabbi Yitzchok Berkowitz, Rabbi Akiva Tatz, Rabbi Paysach Krohn, Rabbi Noach Isaac Oelbaum Rabbi Herschel Schachter, Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz and more. The Sefer Torah Recycling Network is still offering a number of frameable Sefer Torah posters to all who donate $180 or more to the project. These Sefer Torah posters provide donors with incentive and yet another opportunity to impact on the heavenly scales by making needy locations Mokomot Torah and promoting Torah study. We are asking people to help us raise the necessary funds for the restoration of two Sifrei Torah slated for placement in needy locations here in Israel. A Sefer Torah poster makes a beautiful livingroom centerpiece picture. The Sefer Torah poster has a brown Mantel on either side and the 247 Amudim on a blue background. Click here to view a partial scan of the poster. While they last, those donating $180 or more will receive a full Sefer Torah poster including all 247 Amudim. Supply of these posters is limited so, please make your donation NOW!! Please note that the site has undergone some subtle alterations designed to make the message to the viewer more focused and directed. Both the ArtScroll.com and the CDTorah.com sites, with their special directed links, are now placed in a more prominent position on the front page and on other pages on the site. An automatic, one-button method of subscription to this newsletter has been added. These special directed links, both on the site and in this newsletter, enable you to help The Sefer Torah Recycling Network to raise funds while purchasing S'forim, CDs and keeping up with The Daf Yomi. Those wishing to subscribe after reading this edition of the newsletter may do so either by clicking on the website and placing their email address on the email address line and clicking the submit button or by following the subscription instructions at the end of this post. I ask all of you to please help publicize The Sefer Torah Recycling Network with your friends, associates, by posting a copy on the bulletin board of your Shul, etc. thereby opening up further possibility of donations of Sifrei Torah and/or funds. I am asking that subscribers pass this edition of the Sefer Torah Network News list to their friends and relatives via email with an invitation to subscribe themselves. (subscription instructions are below.) Please note that the embedded links may not show up as such on the forwarded copy. However, the URLs will show up next to the words of the links. Additional newsletter subscribers = more traffic to the site = more financial donations, that potential Philanthropic "Angel" and potential Sefer Torah donors. Hopefully, with your help and IY'H additional publicity, the exposure, subscribership and Donations of funds and Sifrei Torah will grow in the weeks and months to come as a result of both initial and ongoing efforts. Chag Kosher V'Same'ach to all and continued wishes for enjoyable reading of the Sefer Torah Network News list. Best Regards, Moshe Burt Founder and Director *************************************************************************************************** Items of Note in this Edition of theSefer Torah Network News . -Shabbos in the Givat Nof Harim Community of Yishuv Eli -Spotlight on three locations slated to receive Sifrei Torah -Hachnasat Sefer Torah Givat Nof Harim: For Some Mitzvot, It Takes a Kahal . -Inspiring Sefer Torah Stories from Around the World -Locations in need of their own Sifrei Torah -Up Close and Personal ; Kehilla Beis Tefillah, Ramat Beit Shemesh *************************************************************************************************** Please visit the ArtScroll.com Website and help support The Sefer Torah Recycling Network. A portion of all purchases from the ArtScroll.com website will support the project's mission - only when you click on this link: ArtScroll.com. Sefer Torah Network News selections for this newsletter; The Schottenstein Edition Talmud, The Aryeh Kaplan Anthology Set / 2 Volume Slipcased Set, By Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan and Rabbi Berel Wein's Pirkei Avos: Teachings for Our Times. Please note that you can now place a Standing Order of the Daf Yomi Size Schottenstein Edition of the Talmud and receive every volume of the Daf Yomi Size Schottenstein Talmud as they are Published and help support The Sefer Torah Recycling Network at the same time. **************************************************************************************************** Tehillim for Recovery from Illness Please see that tehillim is said for the following individuals; Moshe Shlomo ben Michal Moshe Shlomo is a little over 1 year old. There were complications at birth which have resulted in slowness in coordination and motor development. Aliza Channa Devorah bat Malka. Aliza is 12 years of age. She is receiving Chemo-therapy treatments for cancer in Hadassah Childrens hospital. She had complained of pain in her right shoulder. Doctors found a tumor and she was diagnosed a few months ago. Please pray hard for her refuah shleimah. This request came to me from her grandparents who live in the U.S. Menucha Mendel Yehudit Rut bat Chaya Zelda; A widow from London who became ill during a visit to EretzYisrael and who is currently recovering from her illness in London. Please pray hard for her refuah shleimah. And please Daven for Good Health for Yehonatan ben Malka (Jonathan Pollard) and for his speedy release from American incarceration and his return to his beloved homeland, Eretz Yisrael. **************************************************************************************************** Shabbos in the Givat Nof Harim Community of Yishuv Eli When the page appears, arrow down to "Shabbat in Givat Nof Harim." **************************************************************************************************** Sponsorship Donation Program Lifting Neshamot through Donations of Funds/Sifrei Torah Flash: Special Incentive gift for those Sponsors donating $180 or More* Why not donate a paragraph, or a section or the reading from your Bar Mitzvah, marriage, or some other family event. Principals and Administrators of Religious Day Schools, Talmudei Torah and Yeshiva High Schools; The Sponsorship Donation Program to help restore Sifrei Torah for placement in needy locations in Israel makes an excellent Chinuch and Tzedakah project for your students and their families. Friends, please recommend it to principals and adminstrators for inclusion in their educational programs. Please send me an email stating your level of sponsorship, and what you seek to sponsor. More information is also available on our website. Making a donation, whether a financial donation made through theSponsorship Donation program, or via the donation of a Sefer Torah, can cause the elevation in Shemayim of the Neshama of the niftar loved one or close friend. Please keep this thought in mind as you consider a donation to The Sefer Torah project . Sponsorship Donors can make an Online donation via paypal. Simply copy the email address; , then click on the paypal link, and paste the copied email address onto the "Recipient's email" field. All donors participating in the Sponsorship donation program will receive an attractive, frameable commemorative certificate in recognition of their kind donation. *The Sefer Torah Recycling Network has gained access to a limited number of Sefer Torah posters. Those donating $180 or more will be sent one of these posters which is frameable. It makes a beautiful livingroom centerpiece picture. The Sefer Torah pictured has a brown Mantel on either side and the 247 Amudim on a blue background. Click here to view a partial scan of the poster. While they last, those donating $180 or more will receive a full Sefer Torah poster including all 247 Amudim. **************************************************************************************************** Check out the Updated Sefer Torah Recycling Network website and see all of the new bells, whistles and features which provide you with all necessary information about the project from lists of needy locations to Rabbinic Approbations. **************************************************************************************************** Divrei Torah Hachnasat Sefer Torah -- Givat Nof Harim: For Some Mitzvot, It Takes a Kahal. By Moshe Burt Pesach 5764: An Answer to Disengagement, Dismantlement and Abandonment of Eretz Yisrael and B'nai Yisrael By Moshe Burt This will make the ninth successive year, my sixth Pesach in Eretz Yisrael, and it has become tradition with me to write about the rendition of Dayenu as quoted from the book "Dear Brothers." In each year, Dayenu holds a unique perspective, unlike the perspective of any previous year. The theme of Dayenu is ever more timely now, in the days before this Pesach in Eretz Yisroel. This year, I will seek to present a connection between Dayenu and Parsha Tsav of our Shabbos HaGodol. Last year at this time, we were heavy with apprehension regarding the prospect of another bombardment of Scuds, perhaps tipped with biological chemicals or worse. And in 5762, our soldiers were receiving their Tzav Shemona to report for activation for April offensive by the IDF named "Operation Protective Shield." And the Parshiyot on Shabbos HaGadol and on the Shabbos immediately after Pesach are Tzav and Shemini respectively. And this year, we are speaking of the Tzav Shemona of the B'nai Yisrael -- the Jewish people. This is a call for preparation to contest against evil leaders who seek to rid Jews from their homes, first in Gush Katif, then in parts of Yehuda and Shomron, eventually throughout Eretz Yisrael. They've ticked me off one time too many and too close to home and as that line goes from the movie "Network"; "I'm mad as H..., and I'm not gonna take it more." Shabak did a sting this past Monday. They decided to take down the Kahane websites. And so, they broke into offices and homes seizing documents and equipment and arresting 6 individuals including one very dear friend of mine. This friend has been an incredible help to me with his Chessed regarding my Sefer Torah project, as he's undoubtedly been to many other people throughout Israel. Happily, my friend was released intact on Monday evening, undoubtedly after a day of mental torture and abuse. And we don't yet have handle on whether my friends story ends here or whether it's only the beginning. And so, you can always tell when the latest Israeli dictator is near to an evil decree. He and Shabak try to cut off the flow of information, ideas and truth. It reads as predictably as the segments in the old American TV serial, "Dallas." This time, we are staring at the prospect of the leaders of MedinatYisrael attempting to relinquish possession of Gaza, biblically part of the land of Israel. Now how do we answer these provocations against Our Land and against Hashem by the arrogant, corrupt, graft-ridden, enrichment and kavod-hungry, Torah-devoid and anti-Torah leaders of Medina Yisrael? I've got a possible answer. It's an answer which doesn't require laying in the streets, blocking traffic and getting arrested or more, although the situation may reach the point where such actions are unavoidable. But my answer is a peaceful, relatively unobtusive act of Unity amongst B'nai Yisrael where the end will be a mass of people dancing and celebrating around a Sefer Torah, leading it to an Aron HaKodesh in a location in Gaza. By providing a location in Gaza with a Sefer Torah, we will make that location Mokomot Torah as we join the neshamot of those who have read from, kissed and carried the Torah in it's lifetime with those many yet to do so in a town or neighborhood in Gaza. In placing a sefer torah in a Gaza community, we will act to possess a part of Eretz Yisrael on levels that catchy political phrases like annexation can't ever approach. You say "This can't be!", as if the Bais Yosef in discussing Borer (sorting), the separation of refuse from food on Shabbos or Yom Tov in learning Hichos Shabbos? You say that Gaza is not part of Eretz Yisrael. My friend Menachem Kovacs of Baltimore, in his recent article which appears in the Torah section of the Arutz-7 website, spoke about crucial security issues which mandate Israel's retention of Gaza (including a US Joint Chiefs of Staff report claiming ''the Gaza Strip serves as a salient for introduction of Arab subversion and terrorism and its retention would be to Israel's military advantage)." But he also writes that former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Avraham Shapira spoke out that "We are expressing not a political opinion but the opinion of Torah?the Torah says that the entire Land is ours and we must not give it away, and especially when it is liable to lead to the loss of life." Rabbi Shapira further stated "Events have shown all of us that, Heaven forbid, whoever harms the Land of Israel?loses his seat and his regime." I will add that we've seen repeatedly that every one of Israel's Prime Ministers since the mid-1980s has tried to choke off the truth of the eternal, divine Jewish legacy to any part of The Land of Israel has ultimately fallen from power. Check it out -- starting with Shamir and Madrid, the signer the Oslo agreements (even though maneuvered into it by Peres), Peres who insisted that there was a non-existent amendment to the PLO Charter and lost to Netanyahu. Netanyahu who gave away 80% of Chevron and signed Wye and didn't even get Pollard free for it. Barak who ran from South Lebanon with his tail between his legs and then was prepared to relinquish nearly the entirety of Yesha and Abu Dis and East Jerusalem too, after crushing Bibi, he got crushed by Sharon. So what makes Sharon so arrogant as to think that he won't suffer the same or worse fate than his predecessors, particularly in light of his complicity in the corruption of his sons? Mr. Kovacs continues by stating that "most all of the Biblical commentators maintain that Gaza is within the boundaries of Shevet Yehuda in Biblical Eretz Yisrael (see Genesis 15, Joshua 15:47, Kings 15:47 and Judges 1:18) and therefore it also has the Halachic requirement to be settled (and therefore certainly not abandoned). Most commentators also require tithes to be taken from the produce grown in Gaza as is required of all produce grown in the Land of Israel and this is the practice today." He states that the great scholar Rabbi Yaakov Emden once answered a Shayla about whether living in Gaza fulfills the Biblical commandment to live in the Land of Israel with the clear and emphatic ruling: "Gaza and its environs are absolutely considered part of the Land of Israel without a doubt. There is no doubt that it is a Mitzvah to live there as in any part of the Land of Israel." Further, Mr. Kovacs writes that, "the first two of our Biblical Patriarchs, Avraham and Yitzhak, both ... lived in the Gerar area of Gaza." Tanach tells us in Yehoshua that the inheritance of Shevet Yehudah included "...Ashdod, it's towns and villages, Gaza, it's towns and villages, up to the Wadi of Egypt, with the Great Sea as the boundry." (Yehoshua Perek 15, posuk 47) We further learn in Tanach, in Kings that Shlomo HaMelech "...controlled the entire western side of the Euphrates, from Tifsach to Gaza..." And finally, Mr. Kovacs cites that "In the fourth century (hundreds of years before Islam was founded) Gaza was the primary Jewish port of Israel for international trade and commerce. One of our oldest Shuls dates back to that time. Great medieval rabbis such as Rabbi Yisrael Najara, author of Kah Ribon Olam, the popular Shabbat Zemer, and renowned Mekubal Rabbi Avraham Azoulai, were rabbanim in Gaza Jewish communities. Gush Katif today continues our Torah tradition as a strong Makom Torah. There are some 30 synagogues plus Yeshivat Torat Hachim with 200 students, the Hesder Yeshiva with 150 students, the Mechina in Atzmona with 200 students, Yeshivot in Netzarim and Kfar Darom, 6 Kollelim, a Medrasha for girls in Neve Dekalim and more." Hashem-willing, I hope to participate in a community tiyul, my first trip to Gaza, during Chol HaMo'ed Pesach. I have spoken to Rav Yigal Kaminetsky, the Chief Rabbi of Gaza, who will be getting back to me with pratim (information) regarding prospective needy communities. IY'H, that I'll merit to be able to meet Rav Kaminetsky during my trip to Gaza. My work is cut out; to find a Sefer Torah to place in Gaza. But, I've gotten some positive responses resulting from the publicity for the recent Hachnasat Sefer Torah party in Givat Nof Harim in Yishuv Eli (Arrow down to the Hachnasat Sefer Torah section of page and click on the picture for more pictures). The big question is, will donors, both of Sifrei Torah and funds come through and make this happen? This theme of Dayenu is as timely now for all Jews here and in the US as it was in the first year that I emailed it out or, for that matter, as it was when it was quoted in Segal's compilation of the book in its copyright year 1988. Dayenu!!! My Introduction; In the Book "Dear Brothers", the story is told how Pesach 5738 (1968) was approaching when the first group of Pioneers endeavored to establish themselves in Chevron. Among this hearty group were Rabbis Haim Druckman, Eliezer Waldman, Moshe Levinger, Shlomo Aviner and others. We pick up the story as the participants, "Sixty people sat down to that historical first Seder..." in Chevron. "Another participant was the author Moshe Shamir, formerly affiliated with the leftist Hashomer Hatzair(the Young Guard). As he did with each of the celebrants during the Seder, Rabbi Druckman asked Shamir to make some comments appropriate to the festival. The others braced themselves for the minor unpleasantness that was sure to result..." But at every Seder since then; other guests have repeated the Drosh that Moshe Shamir delivered that first Passover Seder in Chevron and so I try to give it over each year to my friends and relatives on Pesach via the Internet(MB). "The fourteen verses in the song Dayenu (It would have sufficed) have drawn the attention of the commentators throughout the ages. Why should we imply that we could forgo even one of the gifts given to us by Hashem three thousand years ago? How would we have gotten along at all without every one of them? The truth is that this part of the Haggadah has only one aim: to teach us how each and every generation of Jews tends to settle for the achievements of the past, to settle for what its forefathers had accomplished -- and to rest on its laurels, with no aspiration for anything not achieved thus far. We, too, right here have that same tendency to say Dayenu -- 'It would have sufficed for us.' The State of Israel? Dayenu. Unified Jerusalem and liberated Hebron ? Dayenu. Wasn't it just last year at the Seder that we said, 'If Hashem had given us Israel but had not given us Jerusalem and Hebron -- dayenu? That's why we've got to know that we'll be facing many more 'dayenus' until we reach full redemption." The book recounts that Rabbi Druckman stood up and kissed Shamir's forehead. The commentary in the Artscroll Pesach Haggadah speaks about Dayenu in this way;"...The bondage of our forefathers was two-fold -- physical and spiritual -- and so was their redemption. The physical bondage came to an end on Pesach night, but the spiritual redemption reached it's climax only with the building of the Temple and Hashem's self-revelation in his sanctuary." "Every step on the road to this ultimate goal was a further act of Divine kindness to us, a further revelation of Hashem's majesty. That's why we give thanks for each ...favor (my word; kindness) bestowed upon us. For every single step, we say Dayenu -- it would have sufficed by itself to give our thanks (attributed to Malbim)." This does not mean that any one step would have sufficed by itself to bring us to our goal. It does mean, however, that each of the happenings of Yetziyat Mitzrayim, Giving of Torah at Har Sinai, the travels through Bamidbar, entry of the Jewish People into Eretz Yisrael through to the building of the Beit HaMikdash "represented a new remarkable miracle -- ...that Hashem need not have performed these miracles if he had not seen a particular purpose for each. So, too, in our time the road continues for B'nai Yisrael. Israel's successful bombing of the Iraqi Nuclear Reactor, Gulf War 1, The 3 1/2 years of the "Oslo" War, 9/11,the continuing US War with Iraq and the Roadmap/Seperation wall machinations of the current government of Israel ... -- The physical road. And the spiritual road to Jewish self-esteem?? It is travelled by striving for the perceived "unachievable." We tend to function, each in our own domain. We operate out of expediency -- in Davening, at the place of business, dealing with our families. We, in our autos, speed past our brother who has his finger out. We see our brother running to catch a bus and don't make an effort, on his behalf, to get the driver to wait that extra second. Instead we give our brother a blank countenance. We are not totally forthcoming and truthful with our brother concerning the facts of a business or banking transaction often putting "obstacles in the way of the blind" as we grub for that last shekel at the other guy's expense. We give and take bribes, at all levels, if it'll increase our personal infuence, our place in history or our position on "the bottom line." And we are totally blase about OUR Land -- Eretz Yisrael. And each group has an agenda working against every other group. And so the old adage that a Government is but a mirror image of the people it leads. I hold that the purity and freshness our performance of Mitzvot and our Unity is directly related to Dayenu. When we strive to perfect our Mitzvot, when we, individually and as Hakahal (as the Jewish people), reach beyond perception of self and of the attainable, when we don't suffice with the "status quo, we will merit to reach the Ge'ula Shlaima. With Pesach upon us, we ponder how, after 2,000 years of persecutions; pogroms, inquisitions, holocaust, 6 Middle East Wars and numerous corrupt governments, the Jewish people have done the impossible, the improbable; we've survived. In light of that, successfully possessing Eretz Yisrael on numerous levels, including placing a Sefer Torah in a location in Gaza, is not so impossible or daunting. It just takes a collective Tzav Shemoneh, to bring about achievement of unity within B'nai Yisrael, for actively possessing Eretz Yisrael and reaching beyond one's perception of self. If our tefillah is real, genuine and if, when we leave the Beit Midrash, we treat our brother as we would want to be treated ourselves and if we reach beyond ourselves, beyond the so-called "reality" and reach for the fulfillment of higher goals, the achievement of the perceived "unachievable"; if we finally recognize that the Emet of the Unity of B'nai Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael overrides the various agendas, then Kol Goyim are as nothing. Instead of an attitude of "my place in history and to heck with you because I'm better, more Israeli, more frum, etc. than you;" when All Jews, Ashkanazim and S'fardim, Misnagdim and Chassidim, Chareidim, Datim and Chilonim, Native-Born Israeli Jews, Olim Chadashim and Jews of Chutz L'Aretz truly love each other as blood-brothers, as one as in seeing "his success as mine, as ours", "his blood as mine, as ours"; only then will we reach the destination of the spiritual road, the Moshiach and the Ge'ula Shlaima, bim hay v'yameinu -- speedily, in our time", like Achshav, Chik Chukm Meiyad, Etmal!!! -- no more Dayenu. Have a Chag Kosher V'Sameach!!! ******************************************************************************************* Another Innovation from The Sefer Torah Recycling .Network; SimchaVort Do you need help in developing a word of Torah for your Simcha? If so, SimchaVort can help. Kindly send an email to telling me what the Simcha is, who it's for and what Parsha it's in. In exchange for your kind donation to The Sefer Torah Recycling Network, I'll be glad to help with ideas. For an example, please click on SimchaVort. . **************************************************************************************************** Spotlight on two locations slated to receive Sifrei Torah (with your help! ) ; Homesh, in the Shomron (Sameria) region of Eretz Yisrael amd is located amongst a group of communities including Kedumim, Elon Moreh, Shavei Shomron, Einav, etc. which are in close proximity to the Arab cities of Shechem, Kalkilya, etc. The Yishuv has many Russian olim who have become Ba'al Teshuva in addition to many Dati families who have moved there in recent years from other locations. Upon completion of the restoration of a Sefer Torah donated by a family in Baltimore, its placement in Homesh will be fulfillment of a nearly 5 year old promise to Rabbi Yehoshua Schmidt. I met Rav Schmidt, the Rav of both Yishuv Shavei Shomron and Yishuv Homesh, while living and doing Ulpan on Shavei Shomron. The second Sefer Torah, once funds are raised and the restoration work is completed, will be placed in a Kehilla of Yishuv Bat Ayin which is located in Gush Etzion. It will be the recipient of a Sefer Torah donated by a student of the School of Safrus located there. Just a few words on Bat Ayin. I visited there recently for the first time in many years. The Yishuv has grown 10-fold in the 9 years since The Sefer Torah Recycling Network placed it's first Sefer Torah there in 1995. It was more beautiful then I remember it. Hopefully, I will go there for Shabbos in the near future and will have more to write then. In order to complete the restorations of these Sifrei Torah for placement in these two locations, $7,500 remains to be raised. Please know that your sponsorship donation or purchase of a S'forim or Judaica products via clicking from the ads on The Sefer Torah Recycling Network homepage, the About The Sefer Torah Recycling Network page or the Judaica Page is an act of helping to unify Jewish neshamot of those who have touched, kissed and lained from these Sifrei Torah throughout their lives with those yet to touch, kiss and lain from them during their extended future life. By donating or through purchasing via the ads on the site, you are taking positive action to possess Eretz Yisrael. In these days where talk abounds about dismantlements, unilateral withdrawals and the like, and this talk is seen as a display of weakness discrediting our Divine, eternal legacy of possession of Eretz Yisrael, your donation insures that needy locations become Mokomot Torah and under the protection of Shemayim. Please make your donations by check or paypal -- NOW! ************************************************************************************************************ Inspiring Sefer Torah Stories from Around the World In the days after the Hachnasat Sefer Torah Party in Givat Nof Harim, I've had a number of interesting responses including from someone who told me about a gentleman in Baltimore, Md. who rescued a Sefer Torah a few years back from a location in the Ukraine. Below is a Torah story of a 60 year old Sefer Torah rescued after being buried in a Gestapo body bag in the Ukraine, approximately 40 years ago, together with bones of over 200 Jews. 24 Sept., 2001 Some things just won't stay buried "I Brought the Torah Scrolls with Me From Syria!" - The story of how a Syrian Jew smuggled Torah Scrolls into Israel. A Sefer Torah Story from "GUARDIAN OF JERUSALEM" the life and times of Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld is entitled "Solving The Crime." Click on the link and arrow down to the story. "Purchasing Justice" - between rich and poor, by Rabbi Scheinerman. A lesson for all of B'nai Yisrael. Sifrei Torah in Iraq In surfing the net looking for pertinent sites related to Sifrei Torah, I stumbled upon this site, which has apparently been inactive since fall, 2002. It is called "The SCRIBE" . You can view the site and it's interesting stories by clicking on the title. More Sefer Torah Stories I feel that this inspiring story written by Rabbi Paysach J. Krohn which appears on the Jewish World Review website bears repeating. It is entitled "Healing a trampled sole". But Rabbi Krohn's story is not the only such Holacaust Sefer Torah/Shoe story. The Amcha (Israel Center for Holacaust Survivers) site features another such story, "My Shoes", by Rachel. Click on the link and arrow down to the story. ******************************************************************************************* Did you know that you can now help in five ways to assist in locating donors of Sifrei Torah and raising funds to accomplish our mission? 1/ Talk to your friends, relatives and acquaintances about The Sefer Torah Recycling Network and about the many needy communities in Eretz Yisrael who do not possess their own Sifrei Torah. Many Shuls have aging Congregations and Sifrei Torah in their Aron HaKodesh laying idle, not being lained from. Many active Shuls have excess Sifrei Torah which are not in use due to restoration work needed or because the Shul has newer Sifrei Torah. These S'forim, if in Kosher or restorable condition, are desperately needed by communities in EretzYisrael who do not have the financial resources to acquire new Sifrei Torah and would greatly appreciate the donation of a used Sefer Torah. 2/ Donors in the US, please make tax deductible donation checks out to "Congregation Ahavas Torah Tzedakah Fund", with a note on both the Memo line of the check and on the envelope "Mark Burt & Sefer Torah Recycling Network" and mail to "Congregation Ahavas Torah Tzedakah Fund", 1425 Rhawn Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19111. Be sure to include your address. Upon request, a tax-deductible receipt for your donation will be mailed to you. >>>NEW<<< Donors in Canada, please make your tax deductible checks out to "JBRASS" (BN#864426911RR0001) and mail to; "The Sefer Torah Recycling Network", 46 Meadowbrook Road, Apt. 6, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6B 2S6. Please mark on the envelope (and if possible attach a stick'em memo to the check) saying "Mark Burt & Sefer Torah Recycling Network." Upon receipt, a tax-deductible receipt for your donation will be mailed to you. 3/ Donors can participate in a Sponsorship Donation program. 4/ Donors can make an Online donation via paypal. Simply copy the email address; , then click on the paypal link, and paste the copied email address onto the block called "Recipient's email". 5/ The Sefer Torah Network currently has affiliations with Artscroll and Soncino publishers, CDTorah.com and Ahuva Judaica whereby subscribers to the Sefer Torah Network News list as well as surfers to the The Sefer Torah Recycling Network website can now help finance the project's mission simply by purchasing S'forim, Torah lecture CDs or Judaica from these publishers and Judaica Suppliers. All it takes is clicking on any of the above links or the links on the website. The Sefer Torah Network continues to seek affiliations with other Judaica publishers as well as with other online Judaica merchants in order to generate funds toward defraying project costs. Please give your Support, Financial Donations/ Donations of Used Sifrei Torah. Make Needy Locations throughout Israel Mokomot Torah *********************************************************************************************** Other Locations in need of their own Sifrei Torah; I want to relate to you the contents of emails which have been received describing some of the newest needy locations. Among the new locations writing of their need for a Sefer Torah are Tzur Hadassah -- only a short distance from Ramat Beit Shemesh. They lack an Ashkenaz Sefer Torah. It is a Yishuv of 2,000 people. It is popiulated mostly by Secular/Traditional, but has a small, but growing religious population. They have S'fardi, joint Ashkenazi-S'fardi and Ashkenaz Minyanim. The Ashkenaz Minyan which is in need of a Sefer Torah a mix of Olim (incl US, Australia, UK, Swiss, Belgian, France) as well as veteran Israeli, all leaning towards Dati Leumi. In Betar, the Main Beit Knesset is lacking two Sifrei Torah. There are two other Batei Knesset which need one each. Beitar's Main Beit Knesset's Sefardi Minyan, is a combination of North African, Syrian, Yerushalmi, Bavli & European S'fardim. The other two Betar Batei Knesset are Ashkenazi/Hassidi with a varied mixture of men from all over the world. In Yishuv Meitzad, the home of the Goldstein family who founded the Diaspora Yeshiva in the Old City, in Jerusalem, an AshkenazSefer Torah is needed. In Ramat Beit Shemesh "Aleph", Beit Knesset Kehillat Beis Tefillah which currently davens in an enclosed area in back of the building next to my building, but who recently broke ground for building a Beit Knesset, needs it's own Sefer Torah as the two S'forim in their Aron HaKodesh are both on loan. Also in Ramat Beit Shemesh "Aleph", Kehillah Ahavat B'Simcha, a Carlebach Minyan is in need of a Sefer Torah. In Jerusalem, Yeshiva Machon Meir is in need of an Ashkenaz Sefer Torah. These are just a few of the many locations all over Israel in need their own Sifrei Torah. To view more such locations, please view The Sefer Torah website. As one lover of Eretz Yisrael to another, I'm sure that you share my wish that every location in Eretz Yisrael, regardless of economic means, be Mokomot Torah (a place of Torah). And imagine the level of Kedusha when all of the neshamot who have lained from, touched and kissed a Sefer Torah in the past, in it's previous home, unite with all of the neshamot yet to lain from, touch and kiss the Sefer Torah here in EretzYisroel. At this time in history, with the advent of the latest Oslo spin-offs, "Geneva" and the mis-directed "Roadmap" both of which endanger Israel, the kedusha of Eretz Yisrael, Jewish Sovereignty and very survival, we need your help, both by way of donations of Sifrei Torah and by way of donations of funds in order to fulfill our mission of placing Sifrei Torah in needy locations throughout Israel, thus possessing Our Land, IY'H insuring our survival. We hope to raise seed funds in order to set up an Amutah or a Non-Profit Company in Israel, to employ Sofrim to restore Sifrei Torah, to locate donors of, or economically purchase Sifrei Torah via all medium. The plan is also to eventually establish a 501-C3 Non-profit organization in the US and thus establish The Sefer Torah Recycling Network an ongoing, serious project. Your Support, Financial Donations & Donations of Sifrei Torah Will Help Needy Locations throughout Israel **************************************************************************************************** Up Close and Personal: Kehilla Beis Tefillah, Ramat Beit Shemesh; A link has been added on the links page of the site for a very special Beit Knesset in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel; Kehilla Beis Tefillah. Land has been broken, preliminary retaining wall work has been completed and the Shul is moving ahead with the building of a new Beit Knesset structure to be completed sometime next year. Ramat Beit Shemesh is the fastest growing community in Israel and Kehilla Beis Tefillah, led by Rav Chaim Malinowitz, among it's most dynamic Shuls. Friends, when you make your pilot trips in the course of your Aliya planning, have your Aliya date at hand or have arrived and are searching for a wonderful community and full-service Beit Knesset (Tefillah, Kesher, an outstanding Rav, daily Night Seder and dynamic Learning Programs, Avos U'Bonim, Youth Mishmar and American warmth, caring and closeness), your first stop's gotta be Kehillat Beis Tefillah. Financial donations toward the Shul's building fund are greatly appreciated. When donating, please tell them that you read about the Shul here. *************************************************************************************************** End High Phone Bills & Get 300 FREE Minutes! Click and see how!! Eliminate annoying pop-ups with Alexa Toolbar Click and see how!! Merchants; When you signup for PayPal, you can start accepting credit card payments instantly. As the world's number one online payment service, PayPal is the fastest way to open your doors to over 31 million members worldwide. Best of all, it's completely free to sign up! To sign up or learn more, click here. ******************************************************************************************************** Subscription Instructions You are invited to tell your friends about The Sefer Torah Recycling Network and to encourage them to subscribe online to the Sefer Torah Network News list. Subscription is accomplished simply by either viewing The Sefer Torah Recycling Network website and clicking on the subscribe button on the homepage or sending an email to: Sefer-torah-network-news-request@sefer-torah.com with subject - "subscribe". To unsubscribe, user will send an email to: Sefer-torah-network-news-request@sefer-torah.com with subject - "unsubscribe". -- Moshe Burt Founder and Director The Sefer Torah Recycling Network Rechov Nachal Dolev #34/12 Ramat Beit Shemesh 99000 Israel 02-9996496, 067-305-497 Do a Chessed for Needy communities in Eretz Yisrael. Click on; http://www.sefer-torah.com Please help with your kind donations! Eliminate annoying pop-ups with Alexa Toolbar Now you can donate on-line, Click on; https://www.paypal.com, copy & paste to the email block email address; mosheb@sefer-torah.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://server.alefhost.com/pipermail/sefer-torah-network-news_sefer-torah.com/attachments/20040402/dc9a3d8b/attachment-0001.htm