On Sunday, the 17th of Elul, the community of 94 Beit Moshe held a Sefer Torah Hachnosas dedicated to the memory of Chaia Mushka (Berkes) Stiefelmann z”l. Full story, photos More than one hundred young Anash families attended on Sunday, the 17th of Elul to celebrate the completion of a Sefer Torah dedicated by the Nigri and Berkes families to the memory of Chaia Mushka (Berkes) Stiefelmann z”l, a young shlucha and his mother in Sao Paulo, Brazil, who tragically passed away at age twenty-eight in 2016. Participants escorted the Sefer Torah with much fanfare from Carroll Street to his home at 94 Beis Moshe, where joyous hakafos and a seudas mitzvah took place. Chaia Mushka Stiefelmann grew up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where her father, Rabbi Avraham Meir Berkes, serves as a rov. She moved to Sao Paulo with her husband, Rabbi Avrohom Stiefelmann, where they served as shluchim at the Knesset Israel shul and directed programming for teens. The Sefer Torah is a beautiful tribute to someone who spent his life sharing and teaching Torah. The Hachnosas Sefer Torah was a milestone first for the young Anash community of 94 Beis Moshe, who were welcoming their community’s first dedicated Sefer Torah. And with a fundraising campaign underway to secure a permanent address for their shul in Crown Heights, the celebration was a visible demonstration of the community’s vitality and a statement that these families are putting down roots. Midway through the procession, the Sefer Torah parade stopped at the property that 94 Beis Moshe purchased to serve as their future home at 546 E New York Ave. There they danced; before the celebration concluded at the synagogue’s current space, one block down. To help secure a permanent home for 94 Beis Moshe, serving the young Anash community of Crown Heights, visit the campaign.
