Sefer Torah Campaign

Childrens Sefer Torah Campaign

In Camp Gan Yisroel this year, our staff have set a goal; that every child in our camp should have a letter in a Sefer Torah, one which is specially written for Jewish children.

Following the directive of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, special Sifrei Torah are being written exclusively for Jewish children – boys under the age of 13 and girls under the age of 12. This campaign was born at a farbrengen, a chassidic gathering, held on the Hebrew date of the 11th of Nissan, 5741 (April 15, 1981)–the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson’s, 79th birthday. Several months previously, the Rebbe had launched the Tzivos Hashem children’s organization. At the farbrengen that day, the Rebbe spoke about Tzivos Hashem and the ways that children bring their parents closer to Judaism, a task which unites all Jewish children. Furthermore, the Rebbe stated, in our physical world a visible gesture of oneness was vital, and that the ultimate expression of unity was through Torah. For this purpose, the Rebbe called for the writing of a special Sefer Torah for all Jewish boys and girls.

The reason why the Rebbe chose a Sefer Torah to unite all Jewish children is because a Sefer Torah has 304,805 letters and each one is important. To the extent that even if one letter is missing or damaged the entire Sefer Torah is posul, unusable. So too, every Jew is important especially our children and if one of them is ‘unreadable’, the Jewish people as a whole aren’t complete. Therefore the writing of a Torah is a perfect way to unite Jewish people together.

The Rebbe wanted that this should come from the child, that he should fill in his name, his mother’s name, address etc. and pay for his letter (which isn’t emplaced to make money but rather) so that the child should realize the importance of what he or she is doing. The Rebbe also wanted that every child who buys a letter in these Sifrei Torah should receive a certificate for what he did stating the fact that he bought a letter and which Parsha his letter is in. Interestingly, the Rebbe paid special attention to the sensitivities of young children by directing that they should only be told which Parshah contained their letter rather than knowing exactly which letter they had been given. Although every letter in the Torah is holy, it is possible that some children would be upset if they knew that their letter was part of a word which had an apparently negative connotation, such as one of the Rebukes in the book of Devarim. The letters are to be allocated by lottery.

There is a very fascinating story connected with the Rebbe’s campaign:
On Sunday, the 7th of June 1981, Six F-15 escorts and eight F-16 fighter bombers roared off the runway from Etzion Air Force Base in southern Israel. The air was thick and tense. Prior to take-off, Lt. General Rafael Eitan briefed the pilots. “The alternative is our destruction,” he said, displaying unusual emotion. Israel’s intelligence had recently confirmed that Iraq had intentions of producing weapons in their Osirak nuclear facility. The atomic bombs which the Iraqi reactor would be capable of producing from enriched uranium or plutonium could be as fatal as the one that landed on Hiroshima. Realizing the mortal danger facing the people of Israel, the Israeli government decided to attack. At 3:55 p.m., while the country innocently bustled about its daily activities, the fighter jets secretly took off. Every detail of the mission was planned meticulously. The target was distant; 1,100 kilometers from Israel. The courageous group of elite pilots included Ilan Ramon, may his memory be blessed, as well as others selected from the crème de la crème of the Israeli Air Force’s fighter corps. After a tense but uneventful low-level navigational route, the fighter jets reached their target. At 5:35, they identified the reactor’s dome, gleaming in the late afternoon sunlight. The enemy defenses, caught by surprise, opened fire too late. One minute and twenty seconds later the reactor left in ruins. All six planes returned home safely. Israel – and the entire world – was saved from mortal danger. On June 7th 1981, a day before Shavuot, an urgent directive from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, was dispatched from his headquarters in Brooklyn. The Rebbe instructed his emissaries around the globe to stop their usual pre-holiday activities and spend every spare moment “selling” letters in the Torah to Jewish children. The emissaries were then to send back a report on that same day exactly how much was accomplished. Two months earlier, the Rebbe had explained the importance of writing Sefer Torah in which thousands of Jewish children will be partners through purchasing one letter for the minimal cost of one dollar. In a public address, the Rebbe stated that “we now live in a world rent with confusion and turmoil . . . Nowadays, even a single deranged, demented, or frustrated individual who has access to a destructive button or trigger can upset an entire region or country. . . Such unprecedented chaos must be countered with unique measures.” The Rebbe continued that this new campaign for Jewish unity achieved through the communal children’s Torah – in addition to taking the natural steps necessary to achieve peace – would ensure peace in Israel and across the world. The past two months had been full of activity, as thousands of children participated in this wide-spread campaign. But it was a mystery to all why on the day before Shavuot, amidst the many holiday activities, the Rebbe had suddenly deemed it crucial to obtain as many letters as possible. The emissaries followed his directives, while wondering about the sudden urgency. At 5:36 that afternoon, the threat of horrific terror against Israel, and its repercussions around the world, was averted. Could there be any connection between this dramatic miracle and the Rebbe’s urgent directive? The following year, on the holiday of Chanukah the Rebbe held a surprise farbrengan and explained the reason was because he received a letter which someone told his about a verse in the prophet Daniel which is strongly connected to the Rebbe’s campaign. The verse (12:1) discusses the wars prior to the coming of Moshiach: “Whoever is found in the Sefer will be saved.”

This campaign was started by our Learning Teachers and was launched on Visiting Day, Sunday the 25th of Tamuz/12th of July. With the help of Hashem, 31 letters were bought! But we are sure that there remains campers in our camp that still don’t own a letter, so we ask all parents whose sons do not as of yet have a letter, to please fill a form online which will enable your child to buy a letter and due to the importance of the child himself paying for it we’re encouraging the campers to take a dollar out of canteen to buy the letter.

Thank you,
Staff of Gan Yisrael Florida