The Torah scroll was dedicated to all victims of terror in Israel.
By United with Israel Staff
In Germany, on a street that was once named after Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, hundreds of Jews celebrated the inauguration of a new Torah scroll in their community on Sunday. The street, located in Freiburg im Breisgau, was blocked off by police for the festive, if not miraculous, occasion.
Freiburg im Breisgau, a city in Baden, has a long history of Jewish persecution. Since at least 1230, Jews there have faced massacres, expulsions, synagogue burnings, imprisonment, heavy taxes, distinct clothing requirements, and total destruction during World War II.
“Today we proved that no matter what happens to the Jewish nation, we blossom and we are alive,” Rabbi Yakov Gitler, head of the Chabad Center in the city, said, according to COLlive.
Before arriving to Germany, the sacred Torah scroll had been taken around Israel to places that had experienced terror attacks. In addition, families of terror victims were given the opportunity to write a letter in the Torah. The final letters of the Torah were written in the German city at the Chabad Center.
Writing a Torah is a holy act based on the last mitzvah (commandment) in the Bible,
“Therefore, write down this song and teach it to the people of Israel” (Deuteronomy 31:19)
“There are things that are never going to be cliche, and this is one of them: A proud and happy Jewish parade welcoming a new Torah scroll on the street that was the stronghold of the Nazis in Freiburg in the Black Forest, the street whose name was then ‘Adolf Hitler Street,'” Rabbi Zalmen Wishedski, a Chabad emissary in Switzerland, who joined the ceremony, wrote on Facebook.
Approximately 2,000 Jews live in Freiburg im Breisgau today.
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