Knesset Unity as Torah Dedicated for Jewish WW2 Vets

Jerusalem - In the presence of MKs, rabbis and veterans of the Soviet Union’s Red Army, a new Sefer Torah was completed in the Knesset on Tuesday June 11 2015, and dedicated to the Knesset’s synagogue as part of efforts to commemorate Jews who fought in various armies and partisan units during the Second World War.

The initiative to commemorate May 9, the date on which Russia marks victory over the Third Reich, in the Jewish calendar as a day of honor for Jewish fighters in the war, came from Gabriel German Zaharyaev, a Vice President of the Russian Jewish Congress who also donated the funds for the Torah itself.

After speeches from former chief rabbi and Holocaust survivor Yisrael Meir Lau and president of the Conference of European Rabbis Pinchas Goldschmidt, the final letters of the Torah were inked by Edelstein, Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Ze’ev Elkin, head of the opposition MK Isaac Herzog, MK Avigdor Liberman and several other MKs.

Following the completion of the Torah, it was danced down the Knesset’s hallways accompanied by raucous music along with rabbis, dignitaries and members of the audience from the event and entered into the Knesset synagogue with great fanfare.