[PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

There isn’t a dry eye when these 70 infants receive an aliyah for Kol HaNe’arim, an annual event that takes place in Kiryat Yearim. It is also the first time that these children hear the words of the Torah, only days after their birth. One can hear a pin drop during the aliyah as the tzibur is simply moved by the emotion of the event.

This marvelous minhag is taking place in the community for the past 20 years explains Rav Yaakov Kroizer, who launched the initiative. Rav Kroizer is from a veteran Yerushalmi family, a son of HaGaon Dov Meir Kroizer Zatzal and a resident of Kiryat Yearim for the past two decades, in the Jerusalem corridor, more commonly referred to as Telshe Stone.

The rav’s home is known for its hospitality, and it is not too rare to find prominent rabbonim and even admorim taking advantage of his hospitality. One such case was during the Second Lebanon War, when the Seret-Vishnitz Rebbe left Haifa for a safer area, in this case, the rav’s home. Rav Yankel is a Vishnitzer Chossid too. The home also serves as a venue for events and tishin; so needless to say, he is a well-known personality in the community.

When he arrived in the predominately Litvish community, he requested permission to launch a Chassidish minyan, which began in the Beis HaHachlama adjacent to his home, providing a forum for the many guests to recite Birkas HaGomel on Shabbos. The number of people reciting the bracha every Shabbos is indeed unique, perhaps unprecedented, at least the total times it has been recited on Shabbosim over the last 20 years.

But Kroizer did not stop there, deciding to launch his Kol HaNe’arim program, consulting with rabbonim as to the permissibility to give an aliyah to infants a day or two old. He received much encouragement for the idea, and while it started small, today it is quite the event. Some community residents come with their children to be part of this emotional event.

Before the actual aliyah, Rav Yankel gives a dvar, his ‘victory speech’. “Sixty years ago, the Nazis YMS”VZ tried to annihilate the Jewish People, murdering 6 million, including 1 million children. Here, in the bassinettes are 70 babies, just a representative of the thousands born nationwide – giving testimony to the victory of the Jewish People over the evil, those who seek to destroy us”.

Of course after the aliyah there is a choir, of young and old, who join in to sing HaMalach HaGoel. For many parents, this single event is one they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

Over the bassinettes is what is believed to be the largest talis in the world, 10 square meters. Where did this talis come from?

Rav Yankel explains that a neighbor who is a regular in the minyan made a bar mitzvah for a number of orphans at the Kosel. He ordered a large talis for that event, and after the bar mitzvah, he donated it to the project in Kiryat Yearim. A year later, he was blessed with a son.

Rav Yankel explains there are rabbonim who suggest to childless couples to spend a Shabbos and get an aliyah at this minyan, and he knows of cases personally in which they were later blessed with children.

The directors of the Beis HaHachlama requested reenacting the event on motzei Shabbos Breishis, hence the photos were created but it was not the real deal. Last year however, a non-Jewish woman was present, and she decided on her own to take photos, providing the first real photos of the event. She sent copies of her photos to Rav Kroizer.

Rav Kroizer welcomes all, and believes he will find room to accommodate all who wish to take part in this special event next Simchas Torah.

YWN PHOTO LINK: Click HERE for photos.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)