A crowd unprecedented in Gateshead turned out during Chanukah
to greet a new sefer Torah presented to the Gateshead
Kollel Harabbonim.
The Sefer had been commissioned by the late Reb Yossel
Fisher in memory of his late son Reb Boruch, a young ben
Torah who died two years previously after a prolonged
illness.
It serves also the memory of his father who was sadly not
spared to witness this celebration.
The torchlit procession was headed by Primary and Boarding
school boys and followed by the whole Gateshead Kehilla with
its mosdos haTorah.
It moved in perfect unison from the family home, accompanied
by music and song, slowly along three streets closed off for
the occasion, to be greeted at the Kollel gates by a choir
led by Rabbi G. Fordsham.
Various dignitaries carried the Sefer on its route, a
true kiddush Hashem, as also for the hakofos in
the Kollel Beis Hamedrash, which was an inspiration for young
and old.
Rabbi Chaim Emanuel was chairman at the seudas mitzvah
held late in the Shul Hall.
He thanked the family on behalf of the Kollel for their
generosity and also for the late Reb Yossel Fisher's many
good deeds in support of the Kollel.
The Gateshead Rav combined chinuch sefer Torah with
chanukas hamizbeiach, paying tribute to both father
and son for whom limud Torah was their life's
motivation.
Other speakers were Rabbi Chaim Kaufman, Dayan A. D. Dunner,
Reb Yedidya Fisher, a son, and Reb Benyomin Halls, a son-in-
law.
Rabbi Fordsham with his boys choir delighted all celebrants
with a beautiful rendering of Boruch Elokeinu and
Al Hanissim.
