Birth of a Torah amid chaos on the Gaza battlefield

The Olim community of JTLV celebrated an unexpected birth on the battlefield. What came out was actually a sefer Torah (Torah scroll).

JTLV is a community for those who now call Tel Aviv their home, attracting young internationals from around the world to come and enjoy their programs while working on personal growth, spirituality, and creating meaningful relationships. Calling it a “home away from home,” Rabbi Avi Hill describes his community as a start-up and says that he and his team have been praying and manifesting a Sefer Torah for their minyanim (prayer quorums).

One morning, he woke up with a feeling that it would be a spectacular day. After running through a number of rituals, including a trip to the mikveh (ritual bath), Hill got a phone call that would change his community and work forever. On the other line was a voice from London, a friend named Daniel French, who was excited about writing a Sefer Torah in honor of his birthday. French’s rabbi, a Lubavitcher hassid, had encouraged him to complete his Torah on the battlefield; doing so is thought to bring tremendous salvation to Jewish troops, to the country, and to the people, he said. Rabbis Leivi Sudak and Dovid Katz, both from London, flew in for the occasion and intended to make their way to the edge of the Israel-Gaza border to carry out the honor.

In the meantime, Hill was invited to the event, and within a few hours, he managed to fill a bus with adventurous community members who wanted to have a spiritually uplifting experience. The road to the location was unclear, and after several wrong turns and some nail-biting, the group found themselves in the right spot after nightfall, together with a group of IDF soldiers, the rabbis, and a man with a mini-Torah. JTLV had quickly arranged a DJ and BBQ so that the base’s 200 soldiers would have a good time while the ceremony was carried out.

Ninety letters of the Torah were written on the battlefield amid music, dancing, and charred meat for the troops. While French regrets that it had to be done during a horrible moment in Israeli history, after the Jewish people experienced the largest massacre since the Holocaust, he highlighted that the inauguration of a new Torah scroll is meant to be as joyous and spiritual as celebrating the birth of a child.

“It can bring a level of protection for the success of everybody. And the hostages. And everyone who participated,” French said.

French reflected on what a blessing it was for him personally to inaugurate a sefer Torah. People often dedicate them to the memory of those who have passed on. This sefer Torah was already in the process of being created when the massacre on October 7 occurred. It was near completion shortly after.

French, along with his Israel-based brother and two London-based rabbis, made the Zikim army base the center of celebration. Each soldier had the chance to write a letter in the Torah, walking away feeling a sort of divine protection before returning to war in Gaza. French described the experience of seeing IDF soldiers in uniforms putting ink on the scroll as “highly charged.”

“I wouldn’t say it was surreal. It was beyond that. It felt that this was always what I was supposed to have done. It felt like some part of the journey had been completed,” French said.

FRENCH WANTED to donate the Torah scroll to a community that did not have one, hoping that it would be used regularly rather than sitting in an ark with a dozen others. Hill felt the same, except that he hoped to be the recipient. Knowing French for almost a decade, Hill asked him during the celebrations if the Torah had already been designated for a synagogue or community. When French said he had not yet decided on a location, Hill made his pitch, explaining that he had just opened a new synagogue in Tel Aviv. Within just a few moments, French told Hill that the Torah scroll was now his.

“Usually, a sefer Torah could have a place to go even a year in advance. I was assuming this Torah was going to a synagogue or a Chabad house,” Hill explained. “I took it, and I didn’t want to let it go. For the next six hours, I didn’t let it go. I was giving people blessings with it; it was like holding a newborn baby. There was magic energy in the air.”

Shimon Rozen was one of the brave participants who jumped on a bus headed for Gaza to sing and dance with the Holy Book. The 38-year-old moved to Israel less than two weeks before the massacre and officiated his aliyah just a day prior to his interview for this article. He described the bus ride as solemn. Everyone had been feeling the pain of the Oct. 7 massacre along the way, he said.

“We got lost on the way there, and as far as I understand, we traversed into Gaza territory. We then heard very loud booms from the IDF. This was early in the operation, and the shelling was routine,” Rozen said. “The soldiers were there, enjoying the food and thanking us for coming, while I, in return, said we were thankful to them for keeping us safe.”

“As an American Israeli, I understood the sefer Torah as this document that has kept our people together for thousands of years the way the US Constitution has kept Americans together for 247 years,” he said. “I felt beyond proud to be a Jewish man. Looking back, it’s one of the happiest moments I’ve had here in Israel.”

Hill and French each penned a special letter on the Torah. French wrote the final word of the text, which is “Israel.” Hill put down the Hebrew letter “vav” as his contribution to the sefer; he says it signifies “connecting.”

“We want to connect the streets and soul of Tel Aviv together. Our vision now is to be that beacon of unity and love for all types of Jews... Most of our events have people from 25 countries. Am Yisrael (the nation of Israel) is coming together,” Hill said. “The Torah is relevant to every Jew on the planet. It’s not an irrelevant myth… or even worse …the root of all wars. It’s the ultimate unifier.”

Hill hopes JTLV will bring a change of the “order” in Tel Aviv, where, prior to Oct. 7, it seemed like a place of disunity and polarization, he said. He plans on having a large Tel Aviv party along the beach to properly celebrate its overnight arrival, saying all will be welcome.