By: YS Gold

This past Sunday saw a historic event at Boro Park Center and the streets surrounding it as hundreds from throughout the community came out to dance and rejoice with two special sifrei Torah that were inaugurated that afternoon.

Leading the proceedings was Rav Aaron Wajsfeld, the rov and marah d’asrah of Boro Park Center. “The joy on the faces of our residents—past and present—was indescribable,” he told BoroPark24. “It was a joy that could only come from the true joy of Torah. This simcha truly transformed and uplifted the entire facility—and it could be felt for days afterward.”

Making this event even more poignant is the fact these two sifrei Torah were donated—by Bikur Cholim Chessed Organization and by Boro Park Center, respectively—in the memory of our precious Holocaust survivors who have since passed on to the next world.

“It was a truly appropriate gesture,” said Rabbi Avi Fishof, CEO of Bikur Cholim Chessed Organization, which has dedicated itself to the Holocaust survivors in the community—among its myriads of other activities for the community— for decades. “The Holocaust survivors built this Boro Park community that we know and love, its institutions, shuls, yeshivos, dand chessed organizations. They transmitted the beautiful ways of the Torah from the old world to our generation with so much mesirus nefesh. What better tribute can there be than to dedicate sifrei Torah in their memory.”

Indeed, the choice of Boro Park Center as the recipient of these sifrei Torah is no coincidence, as dozens of Holocaust survivors reside at the center and will enjoy the use of these sifrei Torah that are a tribute to them.

Mr. David Greenberg, administrator at Boro Park Center was emotional as he recalled the scenes of that afternoon. “To see the very little children dancing with their flags and pekelach around their grandparents and great-grandparents in wheelchairs who overcame the worst gehinom in modern history was a truly moving sight. Being a place where generations come together in joy is really what we are all about at Boro Park Center,” he said.

As the residents and their caregivers, their families and the community, danced with the sifrei Torah on the streets around Boro Park Center, it was the joy of the fulfillment of the promise that Torah will be transmitted from one generation to the next—a promise that has come to fruition in such spectacular fashion in this very Boro Park community.