JERUSALEM—For the thousands of children and adults who gathered yesterday at the Kotel (Western Wall), it was a day of great joy—and not only for the completion of the eighth Children’s Sefer Torah. They were also there to celebrate the massive international effort over the past few months that went into the Torah scroll’s completion by 20 Av, the anniversary of the passing of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, of righteous memory.
“I got 14 of my friends to sign up,” proudly proclaimed Gadi Barzel, a 9-year-old public-school student from Holon who traveled to the event with his father and brother. His effort was matched by those of thousands of students and Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries and volunteers around the world.
To ensure that the eighth Torah would be completed this Hakhel year, more than 170,000 boys and girls were signed up since Chanukah and more than 77,000 in the last month alone in an international drive that extended from Israel to Australia, from Russia to Canada.
While every letter and every word in every Torah scroll is indeed holy, and the completion of every new Torah is a special event—whether in Reykjavik, Iceland, a trendy neighborhood in Chicago or the bustling Jewish metropolis of Tel Aviv. The completion of the eighth Children’s Sefer Torah in the holy city of Jerusalem has a particular significance.
In the spring of 1981, which was also a Hakhel year, the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—spoke of the special power children have to make the world a better place. Quoting the Talmudic description of their speech as “breath free of sin,” the Rebbe explained that they can fuel a dramatic demonstration of unity that could change the planet.
To that end, the Rebbe urged that every Jewish child possess a letter in a Torah scroll written specifically for them. All it would cost is the symbolic amount of $1 (or its equivalent in local currency), ideally coming from the child’s own funds or sponsored by parents and family members. Each letter would link Jewish children the world over to the foundation of their heritage and to each other.
The Rebbe also asked that the Torah scroll be written in Israel, “the land where the Eyes of the L‑rd your G‑d are upon it at all times, from the beginning of the year until the end of the year.” The Rebbe specified the Old City of Jerusalem as the location for the writing of the Torah scroll. This is because Jerusalem also represents “the concept of unity,” as it was never divided among the tribes and was the focal point of the people in Israel. The Rebbe further requested that the Torah scroll be written in the Tzemach Tzedek synagogue—the only synagogue in the Old City whose walls and roof remained intact throughout the Jordanian occupation between 1948 and 1967.
Every Torah scroll contains 304,805 letters; writing a complete one usually takes a whole year. But the campaign—launched with the backing of rabbinical leaders, such as Rabbi Israel Abuchatzera and Rabbi Moshe Feinstein in Israel and New York, respectively—sparked such enthusiasm that the first children’s Torah scroll was successfully completed in just three-and-a-half months.
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That first scroll was finalized in 5741 (1981), on the 20th day of the Hebrew month of Av, the anniversary of the passing of the Rebbe’s father—Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, of righteous memory—and organizers were determined to complete the eighth on the same date.
Working under the guidance of Rabbi Shmuel Greisman, director of the Children’s Sefer Torah project, they were determined to complete the eighth Torah scroll on the yahrzeit of the Rebbe’s father.
Using widely available technologies of the day for worthy causes is a hallmark of Chabad. Rabbi Shalom Ber Marzel of Yeshivat Tiferet Menachem in Jerusalem formed a WhatsApp group of Chabad emissaries and volunteers that grew to include 637 members, who in thousands of messages shared their strategies and celebrated their successes in signing up children for letters in the Torah scroll.
Each day, a new total was broadcast. Less than a week before the completion, it was announced that Jewish parents and grandparents around the world had submitted the names of 304,805 Jewish boys and girls to be included in the eighth Children’s Sefer Torah.
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