A Torah scroll for the first permanent synagogue to be built for Gush Katif expulsion victims was completed and dedicated in the Negev Desert Monday. A scribe who was expelled from Gush Katif and now is living temporarily in the community of Yevul wrote the Torah scroll during the past year.

The World Mizrachi movement's Canadian branch helped fund the scroll, a yeshiva, a school and the first permanent synagogue for the former Gush Katif residents. Former Gush Katif resident Shlomit Ziv remarked that the hardest part of leaving her home in Netzarim was that “the Land of Israel lost a place.”

“This is an historic event, and we are happy to have a hand in this, contributing financially, spiritually and physically,” said Solly Sacks, director general of World Mizrachi.