On the HALB Mission to Israel, Woodmere residents Shira and Ari Hoschander and their family, on behalf of HALB, donated a Sefer Torah to the Bibas family in the merit that we should speedily see the return of Yarden, Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir, and all the other hostages currently being held in Gaza. The Torah dedication took place at the Bibas home in Nir Oz. “It is hard to accurately describe,” recounts Rabbi Englander, HALB Head of School, “but imagine standing in front of the home where this family was brutally taken, their toys still on the ground, standing next to the Bibas grandfather and members of their extended family, filling in letters of a Sefer Torah, singing Ani Ma’amin, crying, hugging and dancing. The family could not stop telling us how much this meant and what chizuk this gives them.” The Torah dedication continued in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square, where the Young Israel of Woodmere mission and hundreds of others joined to sing, dance and pray. The experience was overwhelming, emotional, heartbreaking, and uplifting for everyone who had the opportunity to be part of it, both near and far.
