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Hachnosas Sefer Torah at the Staten Island Hebrew Academy
Edited by: TJVNews.com
On Sunday, January 8, 2023, a crowd of a few hundred people gathered at the Staten Island Hebrew Academy located in the Richmond Town section of Staten Island for an Hachnosas Sefer Torah by the Factor family. It truly was a festive and celebratory scene full of joy, Simcha, music and dancing. Many prominent Rabbanim such as Rabbi Nate Segal, New Springville Jewish Center, Rabbi Aharon Zeev, Aur Torah Sephardic Minyan, Rabbi Nachman Segal, Chabad Israel Center and Mendy Mirocznik, President, Council of Jewish Organizations (COJO) were in attendance.
Rabbi Dr. Richard Ehrlich, Dean of the Staten Island Hebrew Academy commented. “This coming Shabbat we will be beginning the reading of Sefer Shemot and we will be introduced to our greatest leader, Moshe Rabbeinu. The Torah tells us very little about him and his early years. We know he was adopted by Batya, the daughter of Pharoah and brought up in the palace as a Prince of Egypt. Nevertheless, he went out to see and observe what was happening to his people, the Jewish nation. It says he went out and saw an Egyptian hitting a Jewish slave. But he didn’t just see this, he acted upon it. He slew the Egyptian and saved the life of this Jewish slave. The Torah is teaching us a very important lesson; to be a leader one must not only see, but one must act upon what one sees. That was why Moshe was such a great leader. He didn’t just observe what was happening, he purposely went and saved this slaves’ life, knowing full well that by doing this act he would be forfeiting his status and becoming a fugitive to be hunted down and killed.
About two months ago, when we started our morning tefillah group, it was clear that we were only 9 people, and we lacked the necessary quorum of ten men. I sent out a memo to all our parents asking if anyone was available to come and help us complete our minyan. Only one person came, Mr. Elad Factor. He saw the memo and he acted. But that wasn’t the whole story. When he came he asked why we are not reading from the Torah on Monday and Thursday and, sadly, I had to tell him that we don’t have a Sefer Torah. He immediately said, “I will get you one, a Yeshiva needs a Sefer Torah for Kriyat HaTorah”. Sure enough, about four weeks later he called me and said he has the Torah, and he will be bringing it to our Yeshiva this coming Sunday. This didn’t give us a lot of time, but he was insistent that he wanted to do it as soon as possible.
Again, he showed his leadership qualities by seeing a need and acting upon it.
Now it happens that my association with Elad Factor goes back over thirty years ago, when both of us were in the Jewish Foundation School, I as Principal and he as a Seventh-Grade student. It happens that we became very close, as Elad spent a lot of time in my office. So much so, that people thought he was my Assistant Principal. But clearly he absorbed a lot of what we were trying to accomplish, and he learned the important values that we were trying so hard to inculcate into our Talmudic/students. So, I wasn’t at all surprised when he said he will donate a Sefer Torah so his children and all the children in the Staten Island Hebrew Academy ,can experience the beauty of hearing the Torah read every Monday and Thursday. May Mr. and Mrs. Factor continue their good deeds and help the Jewish community and our School in the years to come and merit to see only Nacht from their children.”
Mendy Mirocznik, commented, “What truly made this Hachnosas Sefer Torah and dedication so meaningful was the respectful way how the Factor family came to donating the Torah to the Staten Island Hebrew Academy. It was impressive for me to experience the genuine euphoric feeling of happiness and the outpouring of love and appreciation by the Rabbis, Teachers, staff, and children in attendance. This truly is a testament that the Staten Island Hebrew Academy is inculcating the love of Torah into their students. It is through this Ahavas Yisroel, the Staten Island Hebrew Academy is successfully raising the next generation of observant Jews who are steeped in Torah and are proud of being Jewish. This is the only way we as people can flourish. It is when our children appreciate and respect their Judaism and are inspired and have a love of Torah and Yiddishkeit.”
