F.R.E.E. Celebrated Completion of New Sefer Torah

Sunday, February 19, 2006 hundreds gathered at a gala procession to escort the newly completed Sefer Torah scroll which will be used for services at F.R.E.E. (Friends of Refugees of Eastern Europe) America’s first Russian Synagogue.

Borough President Marty Markowitz, presented FREE with a Proclamation, proclaiming Sunday, February 19th, “Friends of Refugees of Eastern Europe, Sefer Torah Completion Celebration Day, in Brooklyn, USA”.

Amongst the prominent members in attendance were Rabbi David B. Hollander, Spiritual Leader of the Hebrew Alliance of Brighton by the Sea, senior member of the Rabbinical Council of FREE, a great activist for Jewish causes, recalled the mission to Russia he undertook over 50 years ago at the request of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson.

Rabbi Hollander noted the great self sacrifice of Mr. Gregory Safaniev who dedicated this Torah scroll in memory of his father, Ravchida ben Gilad, of blessed memory.

This Historic event was indeed a major Kiddush Hashem, an event sanctifying G-d and the Jewish people. The Torahs were carried under a canopy, to torches, song, Russian dances, banners and live music.

F.R.E.E. is America’s largest Jewish organization serving Russian immigrants with their spiritual and material needs, founded in 1969 by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, as the Chabad Lubavitch Russian Immigrant Program, led by a group of young “partisans” and fellow Soviet refugees.

Since then, F.R.E.E.’s unique approach has found a path to the hearts and souls of tens of thousands of Russian-speaking Jewish families, by providing free bar mitzvahs, summer camps, kosher food, Jewish education and circumcisions on boys and men who were forbidden to have them in the former USSR.

F.R.E.E.’s outstanding success has become the worldwide model for aid organizations serving Russian Jewish families around the globe.