Page 58 - HANUKIYA

we learn in the Gemara, ‘The pieces of

the Ten Commandments are in the Ark.’

The Apter Rebbe used the Torah scroll,

he sanctified it when it was not perfect.”

But following the expensive purchase, he

turned to the real project: restoring the

scroll. “I called a well-known scribe, one

of the most skilled scribes of ordinary

American scrolls, and asked him to try and

see what could be done.

“Rabbi Markowitz came and

explained the scroll’s great uniqueness

to me. Anyone who scrolls several pages

immediately sees that this is not a usual

scroll. He is written according to the

Kabbalah, it has different notes from any

other Torah scroll. But the main challenge

is its small size. The person who originally

wrote it was an expert scribe who knew

how to write very small letters. Now that

the time had come to restore it, someone

The rabbi who taught me with similar skills was needed. Rabbi

wisdom, Rabbi Yaakov. In Markowitz said that he knew only one man

the court of the holy sage when you are offered something so who could handle letters of this size (the
Erlau Rebbe ZTSK"L expensive, it must have ‘provenance’; text on each page is just 4.75 inches high).

in other words, you must know exactly Two days later, he called me and said, ‘The

how the scroll came into the possession scribe cannot do the work. Not a chance.’”

of the person trying to sell it to you. If But Rabbi Yaakov Hoffman is not the

the provenance is not clear enough, you kind of man to throw up his hands. “I was

must suspect forgery, especially in this sure that the credit of the Apter Rebbe

case of an object that made its way from would sustain me and I would restore

Medzhybizh, where the Apter Tzaddik it. Then, during the Days of Awe 5771

died, to American soil. 2010(), I traveled to Israel to spend time

In this case, there is a very specific in the shadow of my teacher and rabbi,

name and detailed story: Rabbi Abba David the Erlau Rebbe ZTSVK"L. I decided to

Weisgel, may his memory be blessed, who take the Torah scroll with me.”

served for more than fifty years as the On Simhat Torah, the rebbe ZTSVK"L

Chief Chazan of the Jewish community in would take this scroll and dance with it for

Baltimore. “Rabbi Weisgel,” says Hoffman, all the circling of the synagogue (hakafot).

“was the grandson of the Apter Tzaddik. It was a Jewish custom, because in all the

He personally brought the scroll when he years he would circle it only twice. After

emigrated from Medzhybizh to the United the circling, I went to the rabbi and told

States in the year 1880( 5640). him how much I wanted to restore the

So there is provenance; now it is scroll and asked whether I should continue

necessary to restore it. Here there is a trying. He said two words, which gave me

Facing the lit hannukiah. big problem. “When the scroll was written, renewed strength, “[Yiddish]” (Of course,
The sacred hannukiah, some of the letters were faded and it was of course). At that moment, I know that I
attributed to the Ruzhiner urgently necessary to fix them in order to would go on, whatever happens.”
Rebbe ZY"U restore it.
The next step was take in the room

The rabbi who taught me wisdom. of the famous Jerusalem scribe, Rabbi

Rabbi Yaakov at the court of his rabbi, the Menachem Davidovich, may his memory

Admor Elrau Rebbe ZTSVK"L be blessed. “He sat there with his student,

Facing the lit hannukiah. The sacred Rabbi Chaim Briezel. Rabbi Davidovich

hannukiah attributed to the holy Ruzhiner saw the scroll and was in awe. He told that

Rebbe, may his virtue protect us it was written in the Rambam style. As for

“Nonetheless, I had decided in my heart restoration, only I could do it. He also did

58 that I would buy this Torah scroll. It has not know anyone who could do it.”

sufficient provenance and holiness. But Hoffman returned to the United States