Tzemach Tzedek Community Centre to Celebrate Completion of New Torah Scroll
In a day of dedication and celebration on Sunday 13 September, 2009, a Torah scroll will be ceremonially completed and inducted for ritual use by the Tzemach Tzedek Community Centre, Bondi.
The Torah scroll was commissioned to commemorate the lives of long-time educators Zev and Rochel Simons, who were tragically killed in a car accident on 20 December 2007, on their way to a wedding.
Zev Simons, 54, was the Head of Primary and Jewish Studies at Kesser Torah College (formerly Yeshiva College) where he worked for over 28 years both as teacher and at the executive level.
Rochel Simons, 48, was a preschool teacher for many years and an assistant at a women’s mikvah.
The Dean and Spiritual Leader of the Yeshiva, Rabbi Pinchus Feldman, in describing Zev Simons wrote, “His dedication, experience, calm manner, integrity and professionalism are well known to Yeshiva parents.”
“They gave their lives to the community,” said son-in-law Rabbi Yossi Cunin, co-director of Chabad of the Hills in Beverly Hills, California. “He’d run a winter camp every year in his own time, just to make sure that there was a place for the local Jewish kids.”
“Many thousands of people have been influenced; many children have had the opportunity to learn and grow through their relationships with the Simons”, said Rabbi Yossi Braun, Rabbi of Tzemach Tzedek Community Centre. “They have raised such wonderful students. I am also referring to all of us the community at large. They were – and will always be – role models for our community, a beautiful community which is imbued with the virtues of chesed, compassion, and caring for one another. The positive qualities that they have shown us will remain with us forever and will only improve over time. They have bequeathed to us a sense of direction and focus.”
The Torah has united and sustained the Jewish people for generations. The lives of Zev and Rochel Simons were dedicated to Torah ideals and the community is showing its appreciation to Zev and Rochel Simons through the dedication of this Sefer Torah. It will be available for any individual or house of mourning that will require a Torah for a minyan or service.
A website has been created to share with everyone some of the stories, speeches, photos etc that have been compiled in the memory of Zev and Rochel. We urge everyone to spend a few minutes and visit this site: www.simonssefertorah.com
For further information visit www.simonssefertorah.com
I miss the Simons…
Their Neshama should have an Aliyah
What extraordinary people.
Rabbi Braun keep up the great work!