Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Torah Scroll Honors Memories of Slain Dallas Police Officers


A Torah is on its way for use in Austin, Texas, dedicated to five police officers who were killed in the line of duty this summer. Here, representatives of the New York City Police Department participate in a ceremony in memory of the fallen officers. Third from left is Bentzion Chanowitz, who runs the daily operations of the Beis Yisroel Torah Gemach. (Photo: Alex Bodnar)

A Torah is on its way for use in Austin, Texas, dedicated to five police officers who were killed in the line of duty this summer. Here, representatives of the New York City Police Department participate in a ceremony in memory of the fallen officers. Third from left is Bentzion Chanowitz, who runs the daily operations of the Beis Yisroel Torah Gemach. (Photo: Alex Bodnar)

When Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on Sunday, Oct. 2, members of Chabad of South Austin/Young Jewish Professionals will hold their first minyan since last Yom Kippur. Together, they will celebrate not only the start of the Jewish New Year, but the welcoming of a new Sefer Torah.

“We just heard we would be getting a new Torah,” said Rabbi Mendy Levertov, co-director of the Chabad center with his wife, Mussy. “It’s so exciting for our congregation. This is difference between having weekly service and not having one because without the Torah, we can’t read the weekly portion together. This Torah will help us be able to grow and build a weekly minyan.”

Adding to the significance is that the Torah is dedicated to five slain Dallas police officers who lost their lives this summer in the line of duty.

“I work closely with the Austin Police Department and have a good relationship with them. For us, it is very important to recognize the protection that the police give us and the service they provide to the community,” explains Levertov. “We are proud to have a Torah that ties together Jew and non-Jew, law enforcement and our community, and enforces that strong connection during the High Holidays.”[...]

Bentzion Chanowitz, who runs the daily operations of the Torah Gemach, noted that other refurbished scrolls have been dedicated in memory of security forces—in this case, for the officers shot down on July 8; and in the past, in memory of fallen soldiers and or terror victims in Israel.

“We just read the weekly Torah portion about the need for shoftim with shoftrim—appoint judges and police officers—and I felt for the Jewish community, this would be a nice kiddush Hashem, the sanctification of G‑d’s name.”

Rabbi Yochanan Marsow of Bais Menachem Mendel in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, who serves as a rabbinic adviser to the Torah Gemach, thought “it was a great idea,” says Chanowitz. “He said in many times throughout history, the Jewish community honored the government.”[...]

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