A short time out from the constant reporting and commentary evolving around the Expulsion which took place in mid-August,2005 and it’s continuing, ongoing ramifications and consequences for Israel and for all Jews, as well as all of the subsequent news; strokes, scandals and the like.
Its time to give a look back as well as a look forward at The Sefer Torah Recycling Network, another of the reasons why this blog exists as a means of trying to locate Sifrei Torah and trying to raise funds in order to continue the project.
In December, 1994, the project began with my attending a Singles Melave Malka in Borough Park. This trip resulted in The Birth of an Idea which became reality with the subsequent placement, over the next 11 years, of 11 Sifrei Torah in needy locations exclusively in Eretz Yisrael.
The page linked above traces the history of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network, including pictures of the locations, links to pictures from the Hachnasat Sifrei Torah celebrations and in the cases of the S’forim placed in Givat Nof Harim, Shi-rat HaYam and The Chasdei Shimrit Community Center — Israel National News TV Video coverage.
We continue to seek “Philanthropic Angels” who B’Ezrat Hashem will provide us with seed funding so that The Sefer Torah Recycling Network can become an ongoing organization which has a budget of funding with which to operate in order to provide a steady stream of Sifrei Torah to many of the hundreds of needy locations throughout Eretz Yisrael as well as to provide a steady parnossa for needy Sofrim. For those who make a substantial donation, The Sefer Torah Recycling Network will promote your business or personal project prominently on our website which receives a substantial number of visitors daily. As such, a donation will be both tax deductible (in the US or Canada) as well a valuable source of corporate publicity.
The current highest priority locations in need include; Yishuv Adura where 5 of it’s members were murdered by terrorists in 2002, as well as Yeshiva Zichron David in Ramat Beit Shemesh, three Kehillot in Beitar Illit; including the Russian Kehilla/Yeshiva Ohel Avraham and Beit Knesset Mifal Hashem, the Alexander Muss Institute for Israel Education in Hod HaSharon, Timani Shuls in Katamon in Jerusalem and in Beit Shemesh and a Kehilla in Nachlaot, in Jerusalem which davens in a bomb shelter.
We ask for your serious consideration and for your help by way of donation so that this dream of being an ongoing, going-concern chessed becomes reality, that The Sefer Torah Network can operate with a budget, can have Sifrei Torah continuously being restored, so that Sofrim in need of work can earn a parnossa, so that travel can be facilitated to locate and acquire used Sifrei Torah so that many of the hundreds of needy communities here in Israel can possess their own Sifrei Torah and so that The Sefer Torah Recycling Network will no longer be a “fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants” operation.
Donors in the US, please make tax deductible donation checks out to “Congregation Ahavas Torah Tzedakah Fund”, with a note on both the Memo line of the check and on the envelope “Mark Burt & Sefer Torah Recycling Network” and mail to “Congregation Ahavas Torah Tzedakah Fund”, 1425 Rhawn Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19111. Be sure to include your address. Upon request, a tax-deductible receipt for your donation will be mailed to you.
Donors in Canada, please make your tax deductible checks out to “JBRASS” (BN#864426911RR0001) and mail to; “The Sefer Torah Recycling Network”, 46 Meadowbrook Road, Apt. 6, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6B 2S6. Please mark on the envelope (and if possible attach a stick’em memo to the check) saying “Mark Burt & Sefer Torah Recycling Network.” Upon receipt, a tax-deductible receipt for your donation will be mailed to you.
In Israel, please contact by email: moshebur@actcom.co.il for donation and mailing instructions. Many thanks for your consideration. Tizke L’Mitzvot!