A Torah scroll funded by the collection of bottles and cans for recycling was brought into Kfar HaRoeh Yeshiva yesterday.
The project was led by the yeshiva students together with Rabbi Itay Zore'a, who serves as a teacher at the yeshiva, as part of an initiative that connected the values of sustainability with the mitzvah of writing a Torah scroll.
For about two years the yeshiva students collected hundreds of thousands of bottles and cans and redeemed them under Israel's deposit refund laws. The income from recycling was used to fund the writing of the Torah scroll. The inauguration of the Torah scroll took place with the participation of the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Kalman Ber, alongside students, alumni and local residents.
Rabbi Ber said, "At first, when they told me I didn't believe. But you are the proof that with will anything is possible. The scroll belongs to the people of Israel, everyone participated in it, young and old, an entire community. I was very moved to hear that the scroll was also dedicated to the success of all the people of Israel."
The head of the yeshiva, Rabbi Haviv, added, "The fact that every letter in this scroll was purchased through the students' hard work makes the occasion all the more elevated."
During the event, about a thousand current students and alumni accompanied the Torah scroll with singing and dancing through the streets of the moshav. The event concluded with a celebratory meal, during which the connection between manual labor, care for creation and devotion to the Torah of Israel was emphasized, in the spirit of the vision of Rabbi Neriah, of blessed memory.
