Morristown Waited 30 Years

Many will be surprised to learn that after 30 years in existence, the Lubavitch community shul of Morristown, Congregation Levi Yitzchok, is still without its own Sefer Torah.

For years, many felt a small community, consisting mainly of educators, would be unable to raise the funds necessary to purchase their own Sefer Torah.

A bold campaign was launched at the beginning of 5769 to prove that notion wrong.

“We wanted to a Torah especially written, as opposed to buying an existing one,” said Ezra Solomon, the shul’s president, who launched a campaign for the money to be raised and the Torah written and completed during the year 5770.

Immediately after that announcement, a young man walked up to the Bimah and handed over fifty cents. This was all he had, saying that he wanted to get the ball rolling, giving a blessing for the success of the campaign.

The blessing worked. And donations began pouring in.

One week before the end of 5769, CLY was $ 10,000 short of the half-way mark required before placing the order, and it seemed unlikely that the Sefer Torah would be ready on time if not ordered then.

On the day before Rosh Hashana, 5769, the community bank account was still $2,000.00 short of the target. Solomon began texting and emailing people to try and raise the funds before the deadline.

“My cell phone and email were running hot, like a broker on the stock exchange, $20 from one person, $180 from the next, and so on,” Solomon says.

Two hours before Rosh Hashana the doorbell rang. It was the Solomon’s Rosh Hashana guest, delivering flowers. She expressed, with excitement, that she had been following, with interest, all the hourly emails showing the count-down of money required to meet the target.

Her face beaming, she asked how much was still needed, and due to the hectic response from the community, the exact amount had still to be calculated. With that she left and Solomon began his calculation.

As he finished calculating, there was another ring of the bell – the same lady was back.

“Have you forgotten something?,” he asked.

“No,” was the reply. “May I come in?”

She asked how much was still left to make up the deposit, and with the answer, took out her check book and wrote out a check for the exact figure.

Imagine the excitement in Shul on Rosh Hashana 5770, when it was announced that the target to place the order for a new Sefer Torah had been reached.

Soon after Rosh Hashana the community’s rov Rabbi Zalman Wilschanski approached Rabbi Moshe Klein in Crown Heights to select a Sofer to commence with the project.

As Klein is quite a popular sofer, it was unlikely that he would be able to complete it by their goal, the end of this year. Still, the shul members decided to stick with him, as he was the one chosen by Rabbi Wilschanski, even if it would take longer.

Not long after commencing the writing by Rabbi Klein in Morristown, a call informing them that a Sefer Torah that the he was writing for someone else had now become available for them, and would be completed on time.

The Sefer Torah has now arrived from Israel and is in Crown Heights, and will be delivered after the balance is paid. Then, its completion ceremony will take place Morristown.

With this exciting news, the campaign to raise the balance of $20,000 has commenced. Can this be achieved in the year 5770? Given the miraculous history of this story, the chances are excellent.