The Torah scroll that was written especially at the request of The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a ○ The ceremony of writing the final letters ○ The Torah procession through Jerusalem neighborhoods ○ Ma’ariv prayer, and singing and dancing together with the holy Admor of Spinka shlit"a in honor of the Torah ○ A breathtaking photo gallery

“There were no greater festivals for Israel than the Fifteenth of Av…” says the Mishnah in Ta’anis. And indeed, how fitting it was that when The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, instructed that a new Torah scroll be brought into our Beis Midrash, Shuvu Banim, in honor of the souls of the Ten Martyrs and for the elevation of the souls of all the holy ones who were murdered during the terrible years of the Holocaust, 5699–5705 (1939–1945), on the night of Tu B’Av—thousands from the Shuvu Banim community merited to fulfill the instruction of The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a.

And indeed, as The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a requested, we merited the event of bringing the Torah scroll in on the night of Tu B’Av. Here is the full coverage of the Ma’amad Hachnasas Sefer Torah:

On the eve of Tu B’Av, the community’s rabbis entered the inner sanctuary holding the new Torah scroll, for the completion of writing its final letters. In the living room of The Rav’s home, The Rav shlit"a wrote the last letters of “לעיני כל ישראל / before the eyes of all Israel,” and afterward the community’s rabbis continued and completed the remaining letters.

After the completion of the letters at the holy residence of The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, on HaChomah HaShlishis Street, the procession set out at 19:30 with great splendor and honor. Thousands—men, women, and children—accompanied the new Torah scroll with singing and dancing. The procession passed through HaChomah HaShlishis, Shivtei Yisrael, Shomrei Emunim, Meah Shearim, and Ido HaNavi streets. All of the House of Israel— even those not connected to the community—stopped what they were doing and came to rejoice in the joy of the Torah, to dance and whirl with might before the new Torah scroll that was being brought into our Beis Midrash.

[caption id="attachment_52118" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The Torah procession through the streets of Jerusalem[/caption]

Only at 21:30 did the procession arrive at the courtyard of our Beis Midrash, and after a few minutes of joyous dancing in honor of the Torah, The Rav shlit"a came out to the balcony of his home for the Ma’ariv prayer of the night of Tu B’Av at 21:40. As is his holy custom before Ma’ariv, he began with the song “Or Zarua LaTzaddik,” and then Ma’ariv was prayed with vitality and fiery passion. After Ma’ariv, The Rav delivered a short teaching about the greatness of the day—Tu B’Av. Here is a brief excerpt from the shiur:

“So today—the Fifteenth of Av—is the greatest day of the year, even greater than Yom Kippur! For on it the daughters of Israel would go out and dance in the vineyards, just as on Yom Kippur. So how is it that on Yom Kippur they would dance in the vineyards? Yom Kippur is a day when one must sit on the ground and weep, to ask forgiveness for all sins. Rather, the Yerushalmi says—both in the sixth chapter of Yoma and in the ninth chapter of Shabbos—that every woman would hang up her red scarf, and immediately it would turn white. As soon as she lit the candles, it already became white. Each one had a red garment on the window, and everything already became white as snow: ‘Though your sins be like scarlet, they shall become white as snow…’”

He continued speaking about the greatness of the day, connecting it to additional words of Torah and Aggadah—words of the Living G-d.

[caption id="attachment_52132" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, receives the new Torah scroll into his holy hands and begins dancing after Ma’ariv[/caption]

After the shiur, which lasted close to a quarter of an hour in blazing holy fire, they began singing “Sisu u’Simchu b’Simchas HaTorah…” and dancing in the joy of the Torah together with The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a. Standing on the balcony of his home, holding the new Torah scroll, he leapt and danced with all his might in honor of the Torah—like a young lad, and like King David in his time before the Ark of Hashem. And all of our cherished friends—more than a thousand people who came from all corners of the land to participate in the Hachnasas Sefer Torah, especially on this great and holy day, Tu B’Av—danced and jumped in sweeping circles in honor of the Torah. The joy filled the heart; no one could remain indifferent, and no one could avoid dancing and jumping together with The Rav before the new Torah scroll.

In the middle of the dancing in honor of the Torah, the honored guest arrived to participate in the Ma’amad Hachnasas Sefer Torah: the friend and close companion of The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a—the holy Admor of Spinka (Donolo), who came especially from the city of Torah, Bnei Brak, to dance together with The Rav shlit"a in honor of the Torah. For many long minutes, the Admor of Spinka danced together with The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, and the great affection of the Tzaddikim for one another was clearly evident.

[caption id="attachment_52127" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, dancing with the holy Admor of Spinka[/caption]

For more than an hour, we merited dancing—blazing like a flame, with endless vitality—together with The Rav shlit"a. At the conclusion of the dancing, with the song “Becha Rabbeinu Nagilah, Becha Rabbeinu Nismecha…,” The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, sealed this moving Ma’amad Hachnasas Sefer Torah by reciting “Yehalelu…,” placing the new Torah scroll into the Aron Kodesh, and afterward saying Kaddish—fiery and aflame—woven with melodies. He then entered his beautiful holy home at 11:30, to the song “Becha Rabbeinu Nagilah, Becha Rabbeinu Nismecha.”

“And He has set us apart from those who stray, and has given us a Torah of truth!”

שידור חוזר מתפילת מעריב ליל ט"ו באב ומהריקודים יחד עם מורינו הרב ברלנד שליט"א לכבודה של תורה:

Below is a breathtaking photo gallery from the Ma’amad Hachnasas Sefer Torah:

[caption id="attachment_52110" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, writing the final letter in the new Torah scroll[/caption] [caption id="attachment_52112" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a’s son-in-law, R’ Natan Rubinstein, writing a letter[/caption] [caption id="attachment_52114" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The chassid R’ Moshe Tzanani shlit"a writing a letter[/caption] [caption id="attachment_52115" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The chassid R’ Eliyahu Sukkos writing a letter[/caption] [caption id="attachment_52116" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The chassid R’ Meir Malka shlit"a writing a letter[/caption] [caption id="attachment_52118" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The Torah procession through the streets of Jerusalem[/caption] [caption id="attachment_52119" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The Torah procession through the streets of Jerusalem[/caption] [caption id="attachment_52120" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The Torah procession through the streets of Jerusalem[/caption] [caption id="attachment_52121" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The Torah procession through the streets of Jerusalem[/caption] [caption id="attachment_52122" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The Torah procession through the streets of Jerusalem[/caption] [caption id="attachment_52123" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The Torah procession through the streets of Jerusalem[/caption] [caption id="attachment_52124" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The Torah procession through the streets of Jerusalem[/caption] [caption id="attachment_52125" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The Torah procession near our great Beis Midrash on Meah Shearim Street—the “shul”[/caption] [caption id="attachment_52126" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, at the conclusion of Ma’ariv, dancing together with the Torah scroll[/caption] [caption id="attachment_52127" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, dancing with the holy Admor of Spinka[/caption] [caption id="attachment_52130" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, dancing with the holy Admor of Spinka[/caption] [caption id="attachment_52131" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The holy Admor of Spinka shlit"a dancing together with the new Torah scroll[/caption] [caption id="attachment_52133" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, dancing with the holy Admor of Spinka[/caption] [caption id="attachment_52134" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, dancing together with the holy Admor of Spinka[/caption] [caption id="attachment_52135" align="aligncenter" width="618"] Stormy dancing in honor of the Torah in the courtyard of our Beis Midrash together with The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a[/caption] [caption id="attachment_52137" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, in a final dance before bringing the new Torah scroll into the Aron Kodesh[/caption]