Procession held for new Torah

A special event was held at Kehilat Nitzan on November 16, when its community welcomed a new Sefer Torah – the first Sefer Torah for Kehilat Nitzan written in honour of its 25th anniversary.

A large crowd assembled in Caulfield Park to form a procession with the new Torah under a chuppah. The procession was led by the sofer Rabbi Gustavo Suraszki, who then entrusted it to Dr David and Danny Ungar, whose generosity as the major donors made the new Torah possible. Kehilat Nitzan also thanked all those who donated a letter and those who dedicated an entire book. When the procession arrived at Kehilat Nitzan, Rabbi Gustavo wrote the final letters, assisted by donors.

Kehilat Nitzan Rabbi Yonatan Sadoff told The AJN, “After nearly a year of meticulous work on all 304,805 handwritten letters, our sofer, Rabbi Gustavo Suraszki of Ashkelon, wrote the symbolic final 40 letters before a full sanctuary of nearly 200 people, who filled the room with music, anticipation and gratitude.”

In Rabbi Sadoff’s remarks he expressed that a Torah is not merely parchment and ink, it is a living soul – a tree of life (etz chaim) – “Only alive when rooted and growing through interpretation, our actions in this world and ongoing revelation of God’s will through its study. The Torah ends with the letter lamed and begins with bet, forming the word lev, meaning heart,” he stated.

“The Torah, from beginning to end, is a heartbeat. It beats through every generation, it pulses through us and keeps us truly alive as we receive it anew.”

Rabbi Sadoff said that Kehilat Nitzan had “continued our story and renewed our commitment to keep growing, keep learning, and keep becoming as individuals and as a community of covenant.”

Founder of Kehilat Nitzan John Rosenberg told The AJN, “It was particularly gratifying that all of the previous presidents of Kehilat Nitzan and two of three Rabbis who have served at the shule were present.

“As the founder of Kehilat Nitzan, which began in very humble surroundings 26 years ago, I am overjoyed and so grateful to all of those people who made this possible. I would particularly like to thank Rabbi Gustavo for his beautiful work, Rabbi Yonatan for his vision and determination to make this happen, the volunteers who worked diligently to ensure a successful day and all of the generous donors, without whose support we could not have received this Torah. As Rabbi Gustavo said in his words of Torah on Shabbat, this is indeed an epoch in the history of Kehilat Nitzan. Chazak, chazak v’nitchazeik!”