TORAH DEDICATION

SUKKOT 2009

We would like to share with you the details of a most unique and meaningful Torah Dedication that took place on Chol HaMoed Sukkot, October 6th 2009.

A very special thank you to Ira and Ingeborg Rennert for donating this Torah scroll to the NAVAH Organization to be dedicated in memory of terror victims.

As usual, this Passover retreat provided everyone with the strength and support they so desperately need.

This Torah scroll was dedicated in memory of 35 terror victims that were killed. The Torah Dedication was held at the Park Hotel in Netanya which holds a special significance because there 29 Israelis were murdered in a suicide bombing attack on Passover night in March 2002.

About 700 people took part in this special evening including many families that lost loved ones at the Park Hotel Massacre. Even people from the street joined us. Many honored guests and dignitaries took part as well such as Minister Uzi Landau, Brigadier-General Avigdor Kahalani, Former Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Yisroel Meir Lau and Chief Rabbi of Alon Shvut Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Rimon.
Tehila Friedman, Executive Director NAVAH

In Minister Uzi Landau's speech at the Hachnasat Sefer Torah he praised NAVAH for the important work it does, spoke about the atrocity and massacre that happened at the Park seven years ago and how the dedication of a Sefer Torah to the Park Hotel truly defines the meaning of "Am Yisroel Chai". Because despite all the pain, sorrow and suffering the Jewish people endure, we continue to thrive and live on.

Each of the 35 families that lost a loved one in a terrorist attack took time alone with the Torah, to hold it, to cry with it and take pictures with it. It was extremely moving. One mother told us that this event means the world for her and their entire family. Her son was engaged to be married when he was shot and killed by a terrorist. This mother was never able to see her son standing under his wedding canopy. "But today", she says "I stand here with this Torah under this canopy, dedicated in memory of my beloved son. I sent invitations to all our friends and everyone bought new clothing. We are all participating in this event and dancing as if it were the actual wedding of my son. May his memory be blessed always."

To see the on-line album of the event visit: NAVAH's Torah Dedication Pictures

Below are some pictures from this exceptional experience along with an article that was written up in the Jerusalem Post.

We thank you all once again for being part of NAVAH and for reaching out to terror victims and bereaved families in Israel.

Minister Uzi Landau

A Bereaved Mother

Rabbi Lau, Former Chief Rabbi of Israel

Terror victims to dedicate Torah at Park Hotel synagogue

Oct 4, 2009

By: MICHAEL FREUND

More than seven years after a Palestinian suicide bombing attack transformed it into a scene of unspeakable horror, Netanya's Park Hotel will host a special event aimed at giving renewed hope to victims of terror.

Photo: AP [file] Ambulances stand by at the site of a suicide bomb attack in Netanya [archive].

Thirty-five Israeli families who have lost loved ones to terrorism will take part in a special Torah scroll dedication ceremony on Tuesday evening at the hotel, where 30 Israelis were killed and 140 others were injured on March 27, 2002, while celebrating the Seder.

The ceremony, which will include a procession through the streets of Netanya, is being organized by Navah, an organization that assists terror victims and their families. Former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau and Netanya Mayor Miriam Fierberg-Ikar will be in attendance.

"Dedicating a Sefer Torah is the holiest way to keep the memories of the victims alive," Coreen Ben-Aroya, whose husband Shimon died in the attack, told The Jerusalem Post. "It will honor those who died so that they will never be forgotten."

Ben-Aroya was badly injured in the bombing, as was her daughter, who remains paralyzed on one side of her body.

"This event is part of Navah's ongoing efforts to give strength and hope to the victims of terror, which they desperately need to continue their lives despite suffering such painful losses," organization spokesman Josh Hasten said.

Also to take part is Nachman Kleiman, whose teenage daughter was shot to death on a bus in March 2002 by Palestinian terrorists while on her way to serve as a counselor for emotionally-challenged children.

"The writing of a Torah scroll and its presentation at the scene of tremendous human loss and suffering promises continuity," he said. "It shows that our people go on."

Participants will dance and sing while holding the scroll aloft, as they make their way through the thoroughfares of the seaside city and accompany it to its new home. The Torah is being donated by New York philanthropists Ingeborg and Ira Rennert for use in the hotel synagogue.

"We will commemorate the victims by dedicating a Torah for use by the current generation and, God-willing, for future generations," Kleiman told the Post.

"In short, they - the terrorists - lose, and we win."