An event of biblical proportions

Fourteen Torahs dedicated at North Shore Hebrew Academy

By Michael Orbach

Issue of November 27, 2009/ 10 Cheshvan 5770

At the end of his life, Moses, the leader of the Jewish people, wrote twelve Torah scrolls, one for each tribe. On Sunday, November 22nd, an unseasonably warm fall day, the North Shore Hebrew Academy in Great Neck dedicated fourteen Sifrei Torah on an occasion that would have probably made Moses very proud.

By ten o’clock a crowd of thousands blocked Old Mill Road in front of the Great Neck Synagogue as they gently jostled with each other to dance before the Torahs. The scrolls were almost evenly divided between the Sephardic and Ashkenazic customs; the Sephardic scrolls encased in heavy barrel-like containers and the Ashkenazic ones in felt coverings. Men and women danced separately in semi-circles to “Am Yisrael Chai,” and “Ode Avinu Chai,” — music played over speakers borne on trucks customized with giant red crowns. As the Torah scrolls were carried into the shul’s parking lot the crowd switched to the song “Se’u She’arim Roshaichem” heard on Simchat Torah.

The date of the dedication was chosen to correspond to the first yahrzeit of Sam Aharonoff, a member of the Great Neck Jewish community and a longtime member of North Shore Hebrew Academy’s board. The scrolls were dedicated as part of North Shore Hebrew Academy High School’s capital campaign. Initially,  only 8 scrolls were commissioned but when two other families offered to donate Torahs the board launched the Shivtei Torah campaign. It sought a total of twelve Torah scrolls commemorating the twelve tribes (two other families offered to donate Torah scrolls afterwards). The Shivtei Torah campaign also allowed individuals to pay for letters and chapters in the scrolls to fulfill the final mitzvah in the Torah. The proceeds went to a scholarship fund that was renamed in Aharonoff’s memory.

Aharonoff, an Afghani Jew who davened in the Great Neck synagogue, was seized by the idea behind the campaign, recalled Arnie Flatow, executive director of North Shore Hebrew Academy.

“In his last weeks, all he wanted to talk about was this campaign,” Flatow said, adding that in a video presentation during an emergency tehillim session held for Aharonoff, Aharonoff urged the community to donate money to the Shiftei Torah effort.

The Torah dedication and the celebration, in the words of Ivan Kaufman, the former president and now chairman of the board the North Shore Hebrew Academy High School, “symbolized what Sam symbolized.”

“We’re a diverse community,” he explained, “Sam worked to bridge the gap.”

Biblical parallels for the event were not hard to find. Arthur Luxenberg, chairman of North Shore Hebrew Academy, recalled the commandment of “Ha’kel,” the biblical commandment for Jews to gather once every seven years to hear the king read from the Torah. “Ha’kel is not a historical event,” Luxenberg said from the podium, “Ha’kel is today.”

The event was also a celebration of Great Neck’s diverse Jewish communities and cultures that includes Syrian, Persian and European Jewish customs.

“Our communities flourish, our minhagim intact, our children grow up together...” Luxenberg continued. “Sam, you were a blessing to us in your lifetime and now you are a blessing to us for eternity.”

Governor David Paterson and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver attended, as did Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and local politicians.

Paterson praised Aharonoff for his efforts, which began from “the first bet to the last lamed.” He described the Jewish people as “canaries in the coal mine,” when it comes to sensing world danger.

“Standing for the State of Israel, we are standing for the Jewish people,” Paterson said. He said that his own lineage bears traces of a 1st century Ashkenazi Jewish family.

The event was tremendously joyous — the dedication of a single Torah scroll is considered a momentous occasion for a Jewish community, after all, let alone a dozen — but it was also marked with a distinct sadness at the passing of a man whose goal was unity between the diverse Jewish populations.

“This has been his dream and it’s come true. Ashkenazic and Sephardic and we finally come together. I wish he could be here, but he’s watching us and dancing in Olam Haba,” Aharonoff’s daughter, Arela said.

Aharonoff’s wife Anita spoke last, and described how Sam arrived an hour-and-a-half late to their first date. He then proceeded to take his date, who was dressed in “tight jeans and a t-shirt,” to a shiur. After the shiur he drove her to visit his horse, Elliot. The experience told her three things, she related. Sam didn’t mind keeping her waiting, how much Sam loved Torah, and how he lived his life to the fullest.

Mrs. Aharonoff concluded with a quotation from Pirchei Avot. There are three crowns: the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood, and the crown of kingship. And she said, concluding the Mishna, the crown of a good name is above them all.

The event ended with an auction of the last five letters of the 14 Torah scrolls, which in Hebrew, spell out the final word, Yisrael, the Jewish nation.

The first letter, the Yud, the smallest in the Hebrew alphabet, was purchased for $50,000.

Dedication opportunities are ongoing. More information is available at www.shivteitorah.org.

Questions or comments? Contact Michael Orbach at morbach@thejewishstar.com