Herzog and Zelensky complete new unifying Torah scroll

What do Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and Israel’s President Isaac Herzog have between them? Believe it or not – a Torah Scroll. Recently completed in Jerusalem the new scroll will be transferred in coming months to Kyiv’s Great Synagogue JCC, Beit Menachem.

Zelensky wrote the first letter in the scroll, and Herzog the last, though one suspects that Herzog had a better idea of what he was doing. As the scroll was written while the countries of both presidents had been unlawfully attacked and were at war, the two presidents dedicated the Torah scroll to peace and unity.

Unity through Torah: Israel-Ukraine connection

The initiative for the writing of the scroll came from Chabad emissary Rabbi Yonatan Markovitch, who is also the chief rabbi of Kyiv. Markovitch devotes much time and energy to strengthening solidarity between Israel and Ukraine. The writing of the Torah scroll began shortly after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, and in writing the first letter, Zelensky returned to his Jewish roots.

Herzog is not the only Israeli to have written a letter in the Kyiv Torah Scroll. Among others who have guided the quill are Chief Rabbis David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef, close relatives of abducted Israelis, families of Israeli victims of the war, and families of soldiers who fell in battle in Gaza, as well as prominent rabbis, Jewish soldiers in the Ukrainian army, members of the Jewish community in Kyiv, and various influential Jews in Israel and the Diaspora.

The scroll traveled widely in the process of its completion. Present at the moving ceremony at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem where the final letter was written, was the Beilin family from Sderot, whose mother Zina Beilin was among the first victims murdered in Sderot by Hamas terrorists on the morning of October 7. The Beilin family immigrated to Israel from Ukraine and settled in Sderot. Zina was killed moments after leaving the home of her elderly mother Galina Beilin, whom she had visited as soon as the sirens sounded.

The grandson of Israel’s first chief rabbi, whose name he bears, Herzog said: “Throughout thousands of years of exile, wherever they were in the world, the Jewish people united around the Sefer Torah. Even today, we are in an especially challenging period, where the Jewish people and the Western world are defending themselves against enemies who oppose the values of truth and the desire to live in peace and tranquility.

Therefore, the integration of impact between the Jews of Israel and the Jewish community in Ukraine constitutes a powerful, multiple force for the survival and continuity of the Jewish people. There is nothing more moving than being a part of writing a Sefer Torah that symbolizes this special unity, especially now.”

MOVING FROM one monotheistic faith to another. Herzog on Wednesday night hosted an Iftar dinner for close to 140 people.

This was the last official event for Kazakhstan Ambassador Satybaldy Burshakov who is concluding his service in Israel, and next week will leave to open a Kazakhstan Embassy in North Macedonia.

All ambassadors attending the president’s Iftar dinner in the past were of the Muslim faith, or representatives of Muslim majority countries. Not this time. One of the ambassadors present was US Ambassador Jack Lew, who is Jewish, and who had already tweeted Easter greetings to the Christian community.

INTERVIEWED BY Aryeh Golan for the launch of the new KAN 11 podcast, Focus, former president of the state and former speaker of the Knesset Reuven Rivlin said that under the present circumstances, there should be new elections. Although Golan would have liked to have him say something about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with whom Rivlin long ago had a falling out, Rivlin refused to discuss Netanyahu saying merely that some people see themselves as Begin and some as Moses, but that no one is greater or more important than the state itself. Rivlin, who is a keen advocate for public radio on which people of all stripes and opinions can have their say, also put in a good word for the now-defunct Israel Broadcasting Authority.

IF, AS war cabinet member Benny Gantz has urged, general elections are held in September, chances are high that a new government would be formed by October 7, the first anniversary of the cardinal failure of the present government, and the murderous attack by Hamas. This year, October 7 is not on Simhat Torah, but during the Ten Days of Penitence. Whether this occurred to Gantz is a matter of speculation, but since so much of Jewish lore and history are based on symbolism, there’s a possibility that it was important to have a new government in the Jewish New Year, replete with all its coinciding factors.

WHETHER WE remain conscious of it or not, the experiences of our childhood remain with us forever. Sometimes they stand in the open gateway of memory, and sometimes they are locked deep into the recesses of the mind. But they never really go away.

Known for his irreverence, best-selling author Tuvia Tenenbom divides much of his time between Germany and the United States, is also a journalist and playwright, and founder of the English-speaking Jewish Theater of New York.Born in Bnei Brak to a haredi family, he certainly knows a thing or two about haredim (ultra-Orthodox) and what makes them tick. He recently published a book on haredim and how they have been maligned and misjudged.

Because he hadn’t lived amongst them for many years, while researching his book, he spent the best part of a year living in Jerusalem’s Mea She’arim where he could observe what was going on around him and talk to his neighbors. He came away with very positive impressions, convinced that most people who speak in denigrating terms about haredim have probably never spent time with them or engaged in conversation with them. Tenenbom may have been more open-minded precisely because of his background.

On Tuesday, April 9, at 7.30 pm he will be the guest of the Tel Aviv International Salon at Soho House, 27 Yefet Street, Tel Aviv-Jafo, where he will engage in conversation about haredim with Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, the former deputy mayor of Jerusalem and Israel’s current special envoy for innovation. She is also the first woman to be appointed as Secretary-General for Kol Israel in the Zionist Congress; and sits on the international advisory council of the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy. The event, which is free of charge, is geared to people in their 20s and 30s.

As space is limited, reservations are essential: https://TuviaSalon.eventbrite.com

Farewell to Elem President

ALL THINGS eventually come to an end. After 28 years as president of Elem, Nava Barak stepped down on of all dates – April 1. No, her farewell event was not an April Fool’s Day prank and a large number of leading industrialists and socialites turned out to thank her for her dedication to at-risk and in-distress youth and to wish her well in the future. Among them were former education minister Rabbi Shai Piron, who is currently the Elem chairman; businessman Boaz Dotan, who was among the founders of Amdocs, former minister for social welfare Meir Cohen, Reuven Krupik, the chairman of Bank Hapoalim, businesswoman Liora Ofer who chairs the Melistron Group and many other well-known figures. Also present was a large contingent of youth who have been helped by Elem and now lead productive lives.

All of the business people present have given substantial financial support to Elem over the years, and some quipped that it was impossible to say no to Nava Barak. In her farewell speech Barak said that Elem represented a significant chapter in her life – one that she regarded as a mission; and one which had given her great satisfaction.

She was mentally connected and committed to young people lacking a family background, she said. For them, Elem was an important anchor – a home and a family. Some of those present – knowing that on April 8, Barak will celebrate her 77th birthday – will probably get together again to raise a toast.

WITH DUE respect to Mickey Berkowitz, who this week was named an Israel Prize laureate in the field of sport, he is not the first hoopster to be accorded that honor, which in 1979 went to Tal Brody whose famous and prophetic speech about being on the map and staying on the map following Maccabi Tel Aviv’s victory against Soviet Russia’s CSKA, has held good for almost half a century.

But to Berkowitz’a credit, he said in interviews that he could not have achieved what he did without team-play; and named several other star players who had been on Maccabi Tel Aviv teams.

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM would dictate that after being vindicated for his years of pointing out that UNWRA school textbooks are crucibles of hatred against Israel that independent journalist David Bedein would be acknowledged and rewarded. Instead, he has been evicted from the office that he has occupied for 37 years at Beit Agron which is owned by the Jerusalem Association of Journalists. Bedein admits that he was sometimes tardy in paying the rent, but in the final analysis, he always paid. As far as he is aware, the new occupants are part of an ultra-Orthodox organization.