The Jewish community in Bryansk, Russia, celebrated an historic occasion welcoming a new Torah Scroll into the community. The Torah was written to foster unity amongst the Jews in the CIS and in memory of the Lubavitcher Rebbe's emissaries to Bombay, India, Rabbi and Mrs. Gavriel Noach and Rivky Holtzberg, (may G-d avenge their blood.). This is first time in 100 years that a ceremony welcoming a new Torah scroll has taken place in the city.
Community leaders and members were honored to inscribe the last letters in the Torah, and the donors received certificates of honor. The Torah was lifted high and paraded down the main street which was closed to traffic by the local authorities to the joyous strains of Chassidic melodies. The entire community turned out to escort the Torah to its new home in the main synagogue of Bryansk. Rabbi Elimelech Weisberg and Menachem Mendel Marton from Moscow, led the musical part of the festivities.
The Torah Scroll for the Unity of the Jews in the CIS was initiated by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Rabinowitz of Nizhny Novgorod. The Sefer Torah is headed by Chief Rabbi of Russia, Rabbi Berel Lazar. The Jews of the CIS merited take part in the Sefer Torah thanks to the concerted efforts of the Lubavitcher Rebbe's emissaries in the CIS.