Partnership 2000 Facilitates Sacred Gift to Yokneam Synagogue By St Louis Donor
By Simon Griver

Hundreds of residents of Yokneam danced through the streets of the city at the end of October in celebration of receipt of a Sefer Torah from a St. Louis donor. The gift for the “Minyan Tzeirim” synagogue was given within the framework of the Jewish Agency Partnership 2000 program (P2K), which brings together Yokneam-Megiddo with the Jewish communities of St. Louis and Atlanta in the United States.

Guest of honor at the celebrations was Stanley Morris, the St. Louis businessman who donated the Sefer Torah. “The story goes back some 15 years,” recalls Mr. Morris, “when I asked the President of the Shaarei Hesed Synagogue in St. Louis where I attended prayers if we really needed the nine Sifrei Torah that they had. I suggested perhaps I could buy one and donate it to a synagogue that needed a new Sefer Torah. The President responded that he did not want to sell off the synagogue’s assets.”

But earlier this year Mr. Morris, who spends most of his time living in Israel, met up with Rabbi Jeffrey Bienenfeld, the former rabbi of the Young Israel synagogue in St. Louis who now lives in Israel and is a frequent visitor to Yokneam, who told him of the need for an additional Sefer Torah at the “Minyan Tzeirim” synagogue.

“I again approached the President of the synagogue in St. Louis and told him about the need in Yokneam,” recounted Mr. Morris. “This time the response was positive.”

Among the guests at a special reception to mark the donation of the Sefer Torah were Yokneam Mayor Simon Alfassi and Yokneam’s Chief Rabbi Michael Wakhnin.

“Over the past decade American Jewry in St. Louis and Atlanta have been able to strengthen us here in Yokneam both materially and spiritually,” observed Rabbi Wakhnin. “But perhaps even more important, together we have been able to uplift  Jewish communities and nurture Judaism. The long-term result of this relationship which we must strive for is that all Jews must return home and live here in Israel.”

While Arkady Hasidovich – P2K Living Bridge Coordinator, would also ultimately like to see more American Jews making aliyah, he is in the short term, more concerned about strengthening American Jewry as well as Yokneam-Megiddo. “Gifts like this Sefer Torah not only assist the communities in Yokneam-Megiddo but also make Judaism more meaningful for American communities and this enhanced relationship with Israel, I think helps reduce assimilation.”

Also among the guests at the dedication were visitors from St. Louis including Rabbi Ze’ev Smason of the Nusach Hari Congregation. “It was uplifting to see so many inspired people with sparkling eyes,” he remarked. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it. As the procession proceeded on the street people were drawn out onto their balconies to watch the festivities.”

The event also enchanted Rabbi Ephraim Zimand, the former rabbi of St. Louis Traditional Congregation, who now lives in Jerusalem, and his wife Esther. “It was so joyful,” he recalled. “The people of Yokneam were so welcoming and have developed such a warm relationship with St. Louis. It was a memorable evening.”

Hanan Caspi, one of the founders of the “Minyan Tzeirim” Synagogue and a former Director of Partnership 2000’s Regional Development Unit, described the gift as symbolizing the essence of P2K. “Underpinning the social and material connection that P2K has so successfully established,” he remarked, “is the spiritual connection between Jew and Jew which this gift represents.”

Rabbi Noam Dekel, Deputy Chief Rabbi of Yokneam, said that the Sefer Torah united Jews around the world. “If one letter is blemished in a Sefer Torah,” he explained, “then the entire Sefer Torah is invalid. So in the same way if one Jew in the world moves away from Judaism then the entire Jewish people loses its perfection. I think P2K has done much to bring Jews back to Judaism especially in the Diaspora.”

Juda Yuda, the Jewish Agency’s Yokneam-Megiddo Partnership Director, agreed that there could be no more appropriate bond between the communities than a Sefer Torah. “Israel and the Diaspora are inextricably linked,” she said, “like the two scrolls, which form the Sefer Torah.”

Photos by Eliyahu Melloule, Yokneam Communal Photographer