Young Man filled with Simcha donates Hachnossos Sefer Torah Today

By Yehudit Garmaise

Just yesterday, after reading in Parshas Vayeilech, the final mitzvah of Torah, which is the mitzvah of every Jew to write his or her own sefer Torah, Pesach Weiss, has the zchus to fulfill that mitzvah today.

 Weiss, who attends the Kloisenberger Kehillah, at 1420 50th Street, carefully chose his sofer, the heilege son of Ha Rav Fishala Hershkovits, zt"l, a dayan, who led the Kloisenberger Kehilla for many years.

 “Pesach chose Hershkovits because he is dedicated to all day learning,” said a friend of Weiss. Pesach felt that whomever should be given over such a responsibility of writing a sefer Torah should be given to the highest cherry on the top of K’lal Yisroel.

   “Someone who is learning day and night, night and day, is the right person to write a sefer Torah.”

  As for Weiss, friends describe him as someone who is extremely capable, sharp, young, fresh, and energetic. When Weiss first sparked the idea of donating a sefer Torah, his enthusiastic attitude was, “Let me jump in; let me do it,” explained a friend, who spoke to Weiss several times today. “Today is the big day! He is very excited.”

     After overseeing the writing of the new sefer Torah for two years, last Wednesday night, Weiss’s many friends and family members gathered at his home to write the final two lines of the Torah.

  The Hachanassos Torah parade will start from the Weiss home, where hundreds of Yidden will join to dance the Torah through the streets, which will sound with joyful music. In addition, many children, who, in their excitement have dressed up for the occasion, will receive flags and nosh for the journey.

  As the group made its way down 59th Street, it made sure to first stop in front of the home of the Sanz Kloiseberger Rebbe, before arriving at its first destination: the Kloisenberger’s shul. After carefully placing the new sefer Torah in the shul’s Aron Kodesh, the lebedik entourage said perek 24 of Tehillim, the traditional perek for the happy occasion.

   “Who may ascend the mountain of Hashem, and who may stand in the place of His sanctity?” David Hamelech asks in the perek, before answering, “One with clean hands and a pure heart”: psukim that bring to mind Weiss himself, who friends describe as a capable, smart, and upbeat young insurance broker, who paid for the sefer Torah and the Hachnossos Sefer Torah with his own earnings.

   “Many of us would wish to spend so much money on a sefer Torah,” explained one of Weiss’s friends. “Doing so it is a huge zchus and, of course, an accomplishment anyone in the community would also wish to achieve.”

 When a kehilla member was asked how many sifrei Torah the Kloisenberger shul currently has, he responds that, Baruch Hashem, they have plenty, but each new sefer Torah is a monumental event and a zchus. In addition, a friend added, every additional sefer Torah also serves as a nekuma to Hitler, yimach sh’mo.

 Not only is Weiss, who, unfortunately, is confined to a wheelchair due to illness, one who gives generously to his community materially, but even more so, he is someone who inspires everyone he meets with his perpetual smiles and simcha.

 Wherever he goes whether to shul or in the K’lal, he has the zchet to attract so many people with his infectious good cheer, friends say.

   “Weiss has great friends from cheder and from his life, and a community that sticks with him,” a friend said. “The boys are always helping, supporting, and encouraging each other.”

 After Weiss’s new sefer Torah is carefully installed in Aron Kodesh, the group will make its way down to the Eminence Ballroom on 4315 16th Ave, Brooklyn, NY, for a festive meal and more music and dancing.

  Weiss’s new sefer Torah will be first read tomorrow at Shacharis, and then also on Thursday.

  On Rosh Hashana, this Shabbos, when the shul feels extra regal and is packed with Yidden, Weiss’s sefer Torah will again be read, whereupon Weiss will be honored with a well-deserved aliyah.