Nearly a year ago, Rabbi Mendy and Itty Lieberman experienced every parent’s worst nightmare. They woke up one morning to discover that their 4-month-old son, Avremele, was no longer among the living. There had been no warning signs and no time to say farewell to the little boy, whose bright smile and sweet disposition had brought so much joy to his parents and two older siblings.
Channeling their grief into action, the Liebermans embarked on a worldwide campaign—one that has so far been taken up by no less than 75,000 individuals from across the globe. To do so, they contacted the organizers of the eighth “Unity Torah Scroll,” in which every Jewish person is encouraged to purchase a letter, thus uniting with all other Jewish people.
Upon learning that of the scroll’s 304,805 letters, approximately 130,000 were still unclaimed, the Liebermans set about galvanizing as many people as possible to purchase letters for themselves, for family, as well as for acquaintances and community members.
The first Unity Torah scroll had been Initiated in 1981 by the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—and overseen by Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Oirechman of Chabad of the Krayot, a cluster of towns north of Haifa, Israel.
The Unity Torahs follow the pattern established by the Children’s Sefer Torah, with several key differences: Letters can be purchased for any symbolic amount of money, and they may be purchased on behalf of any Jewish person, including those who are no longer among the living.
“We chose the Unity Torah as a memorial for our Avremele,” explains Mendy Lieberman, “because unity is the vessel into which G‑d can shower His blessings, and is how we prepare ourselves and the world around us for the coming of Moshiach.”
As the coronavirus spread across the globe and hurtled humanity into panic mode, the Unity Torah’s relevance sharper focus—since a letter in the Torah places its owner in “G‑d’s book”—lent new meaning to the words found in the book of Daniel: “At that time, your people will be delivered, everyone who is found inscribed in the book … .”
Using social media, old-fashioned cold-calling and Internet campaigns, the Liebermans spread word of the Unity Torah and encouraged others to do the same, bringing in around 75,000 thousand sign-ups from the English-speaking world.
Concurrently, Chabad emissaries in the former Soviet Union and Israel spearheaded a widespread campaign to sign up as many of their constituents as possible, as a spiritual shield against the spreading virus.
The newly recruited owners of letters include approximately 25,000 members of the Israel Defense Forces and security personnel in Israel.
With all of its letters now spoken for, the Unity Torah is set to be completed on Wednesday, Jan. 20, in Toronto’s iconic Chabad Center, just blocks away from the Lieberman home.
The giant drive-in celebration will broadcast the writing of the final letters of the Torah, a concert by cantor and Chassidic pop-singer Shlomo Simcha, as well as video addresses by the chief rabbis of Israel and other dignitaries.
The event will also be simultaneously broadcast at www.chabad.org/UnityTorah (beginning at 6:15 p.m. Eastern) for people all over the world to participate in the joyous occasion. That moment will also mark the beginning of the ninth Unity Torah, in which letters are already being reserved by Jewish people across the globe.
Once complete, the Torah will be housed at the Chabad yeshivah in Toronto, the very place where Avremele had been circumcised and given his name.
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