How a Connecticut Torah scroll traveled 50 years, and thousands of miles, to make aliyah – opinion

A Torah scroll, dedicated in memory of four-year-old Avi Seth in 1974 at Temple Beth Tefilah in East Hartford, Connecticut, recently made aliyah to Jerusalem. The congregation, which had dwindled, decided to disband, prompting member Jenny Markiewicz Rabinowitz to locate Rabbi Michael Laxmeter, Avi Seth's father and the congregation's former rabbi, via Facebook. The scroll, after being transferred to Rabbi Laxmeter in Las Vegas and undergoing inspection, was brought to Jerusalem by his wife Jeralyn and her son, Amir Goldman, and daughter-in-law, Stacey Fruen Goldman. Stacey Fruen Goldman stated, "We were excited and honored to bring the Torah to Jerusalem." The Torah was ceremoniously carried into the synagogue at Mediterranean Towers in Talpiot, where Rabbi Laxmeter and Jeralyn now reside, completing a journey that mirrored their own path to Israel.