Sefer Torah Damaged by Flood, Part that was Written By Rav Yitzchok Elchanan zatzal was Saved

Hamodia- (BROOKLYN) - Sifrei Torah were destroyed, basements flooded, and homes and shuls were damaged in Williamsburg, which experienced some of the heaviest effects of Tropical Depression Ida on Wednesday night.

Williamsburg Shomrim received “thousands of calls,” coordinator Yanky Itzkowitz told Hamodia. “Of course, we couldn’t handle all, so we took the highest priority ones first.”

Itzkowitz also assisted in removing four sifrei Torah from the Sambuer shul, located in a basement at Wallabout Street and Marcy Avenue. The sifrei Torah were brought to a nearby shul and laid out to dry.

The rav of the shul told Hamodia on Thursday that the day before the storm he had called several sewer specialists to check on the shul, and they determined sewer system was fine.

“We kept checking; fifteen minutes before storm came, it was all clear,” the rav said. But when the storm came, the water quickly “came in all the way to the ceiling.”

The shul had four sifrei Torah, all of which were damaged. “It makes me cry to talk,” the rav said, frequently repeating the words, “Baruch Hashem” because, “Keshem shemavarchim al hatov, kach mevarchim al hara.” (“Just as we thank Hashem for the

good, we thank Hashem for the bad.”) The rav says that one of the shul’s sifrei Torah was partially written by Harav Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor (1817-1896), the legendary rav of Kovno. “I bought that sefer Torah from the great-grandson of the heilege tzaddik Reb Yitzchak Elchanan, who had written Bereishes, Shemos and Vayikra. And in that sefer Torah, the water damaged only Bamidbar and Devarim,” the rav said, his voice cracking. “It’s a heilege ma’aseh.”

The rav has consulted with two sofrim, who say the damaged sifrei Torah are unsalvageable.

“It was all destroyed,” said the rav. Read more at Hamodia.com

Photos by Williamsburg News