500,000 Watch as Unity Sefer Torah Completed With Global Celebration

By COLlive reporter
Photos: Chaim Tuito

Unity is something easily talked about, but is much harder to actually put into practice.

Which is what makes the Siyum of the Unity Sefer Torah on Sunday night such a rare and awe-inspiring achievement.

It was a joyous conclusion for the Torah that was nine months in the making. Born in Crown Heights in the thick of Covid and inspired by the now-famous story of the Baal Shem Tov, the Torah erased all boundaries, bringing Jews of all types and from across the globe, together as one.

Indeed, in a whirlwind final week, the Unity Sefer Torah embarked on a tour across the diverse communities of the Tri-state area’s frum communities. From Lakewood to Boro Park, Williamsburg to Crown Heights, to Monroe, Monsey, and Flatbush, the Torah arrived at the homes and Battei Midrashim of Rabbanim, Admorim, and askanim of every stripe where they grasped the same quill and filled in letters in the same Sefer Torah.

After making final stops at the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Ohel and then in the Rebbe’s office at 770 Eastern Parkway, the Torah made its way to a hall in Brooklyn, where it was given the royal treatment of a six-hour-long celebration live-streamed to over 500,000 viewers across the world.

The masterfully planned program produced by Shneur Nejar and program director Dovid Weinbaum wove narrative, inspiration, and entertainment into a compelling viewing experience. Videos of first-hand testimony from those who credit their miraculous healing to a letter in the Miracle Sefer Torah gave way to messages from the dynamic brotherly duo of Rabbis Simon Jacobson and YY Jacobson which seamlessly moved to performances from an all-star lineup of Jewish music stars.

Avraham Fried, Mordechai Ben David, Chaim Yisrael, Benny Friedman, Eli Marcus, Baruch Levine, 8th Day band, Lipa Schmeltzer, Shmuli Ungar, Shlomo Simcha and Mendy J sang solo and in duet, soulful tunes and rousing Hakafos niggunim, as they danced across the stage late into the night.

Avrumi Schreiber & The Freilach Band provided world-class musical accompaniment, with expert musical arrangements by Bentzi Marcus.

From the beginning, the Miracle Sefer Torah was defined by urgency. Rabbi Moshe Klein, owner of Hasofer, who wrote the Torah, shared how Beryl Junik, Zalmy Cohen, and Shloime Greenwald called him late one night to commission the Sefer Torah. He agreed, and said he would go to the office the next morning to begin the work. Ten minutes later, however, they called again, “we have to do it now.” Rabbi Klein made his way to Junik’s house, where he wrote the first letters of the Torah.

In the end, that urgency never faded. The Siyum was a rallying cry of achdus, bringing together young and old, men and women, Jewish people of all types and levels of observance from around the entire globe.

After the last letters of the Torah had been completed, and the Torah was lifted and crowned, Rabbi YY Jacobson spoke about achdus.

“Ahavas Yisrael is the courage to learn the song in someone else’s heart,” Rabbi YY Jacobson said. “And to then sing it to them when they forget it.” He continued to decry “fragmentation, enough mistrust…enough of the tunnel vision that constricts us.”

The Torah that danced across the stage was a testament to that conviction. A Torah that contains the multitudes of the Jewish people; from Chassidish to Litvish, Ashkenazi to Sephardi, religious to secular.

Rabbi Paysach Krohn, the popular international speaker, summed up what was acheived in his address during the evening’s festivities: “This Torah united Chassidim and Litvish, Ashkenazim and Sephardim,” he said.

The three tireless organizers, Shloime Greenwald, Zalmy Cohen and Beryl Junik, can only hope that the historic unity, connection and brotherhood that was achieved will persist long after the Torah’s epic completion.

The event was held L’iluy nishmas Mrs. Zelda bas Harav Moshe Zalman obm, whose yartzeit is on Chof Kislev.

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