Pain and joy woven together
Congregations display Torah mantles with the names of October 7 victims
Northern New Jersey synagogues have joined a global initiative to create mantles for Torah scrolls in memory of the 1,200 people Hamas murdered on October 7, 2023, and those who have died since then in the war against the terrorist group in Gaza.
The Simchat Torah Project, led by Mizrachi, a religious Zionist organization, has brought the memorial mantles to more than 1,600 synagogues in 32 countries.
Rabbi David Vaisberg of Temple B’nai Abraham, an independent congregation in Livingston, said the commemorative Torah cover is just one of the ways his congregation has supported Israel since the war broke out.
“There’s been many gatherings of goods to send over to Israel — many connections and communications,” Rabbi Vaisberg said. He’s been on two missions to Israel since October 7, one in February and the other in July.
The front of every mantle is the same, and the back is personalized. Each mantle is embroidered with the flag of Israel and Star of David along with the familiar words, in Hebrew, from Ecclesiastes, “There is a time to mourn and a time to dance.” The back includes the name, some biographical information, and date of the victim’s death.
Simchat Torah was complicated this year. It’s usually a happy day, the most joyous of the year, as its name tells us, but this time it occurred on the yahrzeit of the victims of October 7. Temple B’nai Abraham wanted a way to commemorate that first yahrzeit, and it made sense to do so by involving the sifrei Torah — the scrolls.
The Torah covers made it to many synagogues in time for Simchat Torah. The participating synagogues welcomed them at services with a special recognition and display.
“We wanted to find a way to hold all of the emotions together because we’re supposed to be dancing and celebrating, and it’s also a day of mourning,” Rabbi Vaisberg said.
B’nai Abraham’s Torah scroll covers memorialized IDF Staff Sgt. Birhanu Kassie of Beit Shemesh. He belonged to the Givati Brigade’s reconnaissance unit and was killed during Israel’s ground operation in Gaza on December 22. He was 22.
Commissioning the Torah cover in Staff Sgt. Kassie’s memory resonated with people on a day when so much felt out of place and troubling, Rabbi Vaisberg said. “It’s an appropriate way for us to connect the two and make clear that these people who gave their lives for us, their deaths will not be in vain.
“They fought for our people and we are going to do exactly what we always do, which is pushing back at those who would seek to prevent us from practicing our tradition and being a people.”
Congregation Beth Israel, a Conservative shul in Scotch Plains, also commissioned a Torah scroll cover. “I think it was really a poignant way of capturing our memories and experiences on October 7 last year,” Rabbi Howard Tilman said.
The Torah scroll cover allows congregants to memorialize the devastating events of October 7, “but at the same time not be bound up or stuck in these horrors,” he added. “It’s covering up the Torah, covering up our source of our tradition, our source of strength, our source of life.”
Funding for Congregation Beth Israel’s participation in the Simchat Torah project came from a $1,200 donation made by congregants Hal and Carol Shichman.
Ms. Shichman heard about the project while listening to an interview with Mizrachi-UK’s chief executive, Rabbi Andrew Shaw. She didn’t want to wait for individual small donations to come in, she said. “It was more important to get it done so that we could do it in time for Simchat Torah.”
Rabbi Brian Beal of Temple Beth Tikvah in Wayne, which is Reform, said that its new Torah scroll cover signifies a “joining of our hearts with the hostages remaining in hopes for a peaceful and healthy return.”
Beth Tikvah’s mantle memorializes Sgt. Itai Saadon from Mehr Halutz. He was a tank commander in the 52nd Battalion, 401st Brigade, and was killed in battle in northern Gaza on November 2, 2023. He was 21.
The mantle was commissioned through a donation by the Lauryn and Jason Tuchman family.
It was first displayed on November 3, covering a Holocaust Torah from the Czech Republic. The event at Beth Tikvah marked a gathering of more than a dozen Torah scrolls from communities across New Jersey. “I thought the Torah cover was a really poignant image to see,” Rabbi Beal said. “It was an emotional release for our congregants connected to October 7 and all that’s unfolded since people turned their hearts toward Israel. We’re united in the prayer for peace for all the people in Israel.”
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