A festive Torah scroll dedication was held for the community "Chalki BeKehilati, Beit Yitzchak," which brings together yeshiva graduates, working men and others who keep regular Torah study. The scroll was carried in song and dancing from the home of Rabbi Meir Fromer, the community founder, to the congregation’s current prayer space, a tent in the yard of Rabbi Ephraim Zekharia’s home on Rabbi Shach Street in New Ramat Shlomo.
Israel’s Chief Rabbi, Rabbi David Lau, addressed the event and said he can see the synagogue from the minyan on his balcony in the Ramat neighborhood. He praised the model of a synagogue that includes all communities, noting that working Haredim and full-time Torah scholars ultimately draw from the same source. He said, “This is a Jewish Torah scroll,” rejecting labels that separate it by communal type and stressing that all Jews begin with Genesis, all have the Ten Commandments, and all are equal.
Rabbi Yehuda Breitkopf, one of the community’s rabbis, spoke about the obligation to set fixed times for Torah study even when other needs arise. Citing the Mishnah Berurah, he said a person should not leave his study slot even for a major business opportunity, and that one of the first questions asked in heaven is, “Did you set fixed times for Torah?” He added that the instruction to make Torah one’s fixed pursuit and work incidental is also an attitude of value, not just a matter of hours.
Breitkopf praised the community, which he said has more than 100 worshippers who take part in Torah classes and weekly activities, and urged public officials to provide a proper permanent synagogue building for a neighborhood filled with dozens of apartment blocks. Rabbi Avraham Meir Feivelzon, head of Patei Olam institutions, thanked the Klerman family for donating the Torah scroll and the homeowner currently hosting the synagogue, saying the community hopes soon to move into a permanent building while preserving the blessing in his home. Other participants included Rabbis Ovadia Hazan, Moshe Zekharia, Yisrael Meir Zvi’chi and Daniel Glik.
