Children’s Ninth Torah Scroll to Be Dedicated at Jerusalem’s Western Wall

The ninth Torah scroll of Israeli children will be brought to the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Monday, the 20th of Av, in a major ceremony marking the completion of the project. The event falls on the yahrzeit of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneersohn, the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s father.

The Torah-writing campaign was launched by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in spring 1981, with the goal of uniting Jewish children worldwide around the Torah. The Rebbe repeatedly said this special scroll brings protection, preservation and blessing for children and for the Jewish people as a whole.

Each scroll includes exactly 304,805 participating boys and girls, matching the number of letters in the Five Books of Moses. In recent weeks participation has surged, with 2,039 children from Israel and 1,459 from abroad joining just last week. Children who buy a symbolic share receive a personal certificate stating which book and weekly Torah portion contains their letter.

Final preparations are being handled by the committee for the Torah scroll of Israeli children, headed by Rabbi Shmuel Griezman, as tens of thousands of participants are expected, including leading rabbis, yeshiva heads, emissaries and large numbers of children. The ceremony will begin in the afternoon with the writing of the final letters at the Tzemach Tzedek synagogue in Jerusalem’s Old City, followed by a large torchlit procession with singing and music to the Western Wall, where the traditional hakafot will take place.