In a solemn and emotional maamad in Beit Shemesh on Sunday, the remains of the Sifrei Torah that were burned in the missile strike that devastated the Tiferes Yisrael shul were brought to kevurah. Community leaders, families of those who were killed, and the shul’s gabbaim participated in the maamad.

Among those present was Tzion Revach, who had donated one of the Sifrei Torah and lost his son, Gavriel Baruch HY”D, in the same tragedy. Before the kevurah, remarks were delivered by Beit Shemesh Mayor Shmuel Greenberg, City Councilman Nati Gabay, and Revach.

“For me, this is a difficult day,” Revach said. “It brings me back to the terrible blow I suffered this year when I buried my son, and now I am burying the Sefer Torah that I collected shekel by shekel to have written.” He added that he finds nechama in the rebuilding of the shul, which he said will symbolize the community rising from its mourning.

The Tiferes Yisrael shul, where the Sifrei Torah had been kept, was completely destroyed in the missile strike. Reconstruction is now at an advanced stage, and the new building is expected to reopen to mispallelim ahead of the upcoming Yomim Tovim.

Mayor Greenberg said the community was laying the Sifrei Torah to rest “with sorrow and honor,” adding that, b’ezras Hashem, the rebuilt shul will be ready for the Yomim Tovim. “May the year and its curses come to an end, and may the new year and its blessings begin.”

Councilman Nati Gabay described the kevurah as another painful chapter for the city, noting that for Revach, it was a “second burial” after the loss of his son. He said the community is now rebuilding its temporary Mikdash Me’at, with the hope of ultimately restoring the community to its permanent shul.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)