Bloomberg Attends Hachnosas Sefer Torah Dedication at MDA Shul in Yerushalayim in Memory of His Father

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mike-bloombergOn Erev Shabbos, a new Sefer Torah was given to the shul in the Magen Dovid Adom Yerushalayim station. The Sefer Torah was donated by an American-Israeli donor, Meir Blisko, in memory of the parents of the past Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, who was the main donor in the refurbishment and extension of the MDA Yerushalayim station which bears the name of his father, William Henry Bloomberg.
The renovated MDA station in Yerushalayim was opened about three years ago in the presence of then Mayor Bloomberg. During the ceremony, Bloomberg said that he was proud of the fact that the name of his late father would forever be connected to the best rescue and medical organization in the world. At the same time Bloomberg affixed a mezuzah at the entrance to the station together with the Chief Rabbis of Israel and the MDA Director General, Eli Bin.

The building of the MDA Yerushalayim station has 4 floors, and serves as a special station including an operations dispatch center equipped with the best of technology, a secure and safe floor protected against chemical warfare which can enable full activity of the station in times of emergency, a point for dispatching ambulances and Mobile Intensive Care Units, a large room for blood donations, instruction classrooms, a visitors centre, auditorium and as mentioned, a synagogue.

The ceremony dedicating the Sefer Torah was attended by Bloomberg and his family; the Rishon Letzion Rav Yitzchok Yosef; Yerushalayim Mayor Nir Barkat; the donor of the Sefer Torah, Meir Blisko and his family; Shlomo and Leah Mosko, the parents of the late Phillip Mosko, an IDF soldier and volunteer paramedic in MDA who fell in the Second Lebanese War (whose parents donated the paroches for the aron kodesh); MDA Director General, Eli Bin; the Chairman of the Organization of friends of MDA in the USA Mark Lebow and his wife Patty Harris; MDA senior personnel and Management of the Yerushalayim station; and the MDA workers and volunteers from the Yerushalayim station.

The manager of the Yerushalayim Region, Shlomo Petrover, said at the start of the ceremony: “I thank Mr. Meir Bilsko and all those who helped and took part in the realization of this historic day when we are dedicating the first Sefer Torah in an MDA station.”

Rav Yitzchok Yosef said, “You, as an organization that deals in saving lives and healing the sick in Israel, are today dedicating the first Sefer Torah in the MDA Yerushalayim station and are making a place where those that save lives can pray for the sick of Israel. I bless the dear donor and all of you present with good health and a long life.”

Mr. Blisko handed over the Sefer Torah to the MDA Director General, Eli Bin and together with all those who had come to the ceremony went out in a procession to the Chasidoff Volunteers House in the MDA Yerushalayim station where the shul is situated. Rav Yitzchak Yosef and Eli Bin handed over the Sefer Torah into the arms of Mr. Bloomberg, who then took it into the shul where they continued with dancing. Mr. Shlomo Mosko, the father of MDA Paramedic Phillip Mosko z”l, was honored with opening the aron kodesh, where Mr. Bloomberg then placed the Sefer Torah.

“Three years ago, the renovated MDA Yerushalayim station was dedicated. It is one of the most beautiful buildings in Israel, and today you are dedicating the first Sefer Torah in the synagogue in the MDA Yerushalayim station,” said the Chairman of the Friends of MDA Organization in the USA, Adv. Mark Lebow, to Mr. Bloomberg immediately after the dancing ended. Bloomberg congratulated all those present and said: “MDA is an organization that saves lives and I am proud that the name of my father is hanging on the building from which you come with professionalism in ambulances and motorbikes to provide medical aid. You are heroes.”

Mayor Barkat thanked Mr. Meir Blisko for his donation and said: “In my past, I volunteered in MDA and saw the MDA First Responders arriving at the scene of an incident, making swift decisions, and saving lives. As the Mayor of Yerushalayim and as a resident of Yerushalayim, I appreciate your alertness, the swift response and cooperation with other emergency services, the combination of saving lives and prayer is important and I congratulate you today as you dedicate the Torah scroll in the synagogue.”

Mr. Blisko said: “It is a great honor to donate a Torah to the synagogue in the MDA Yerushalayim station. I know that there is no greater satisfaction than that of saving lives and this is my way of saying thank you to the MDA staff in Yerushalayim who work so hard, both in the field and in the Dispatch Centre. I thank Mr. Michael Bloomberg for his help to the MDA teams in saving lives.”

At the end of the speeches, the MDA Director General, Eli Bin, presented a gift to Mr. Bloomberg, and to his family, to the donor of the Torah, Mr. Blisko, and to Mayor Barkat, and then a senior medic in MDA, Moti Glustein, read Parshas Vezos Habracha from the new Torah.

Eli Bin remarked, “This is a great and emotional day on which we are dedicating the first Torah to a bet knesset in MDA, and I thank Mr. Meir Blisko for his important donation. We are proud to once again host the past Mayor of New York, Mr. Michael Bloomberg, who has proved himself to be a true friend of MDA, and to celebrate with him and members of his family the dedication of the Torah scroll in memory of his parents, here in the MDA Yerushalayim station which is named after his late father. There is no doubt that the Torah scroll is an important addition to the place where lives are saved.”

WATCH A VIDEO HERE.

{Matzav.com Israel News Bureau}


5 COMMENTS

  1. This man has the nerve to hold a Torah when he declared war against metzitza b’peh, hates the guys in black hats and was married to non Jews. Sickening.

  2. Tizku l’mitzvos. Who knows, maybe this will be the first in a long link….
    Editing because that was unfair to the mayor, though I didn’t intend it that way.

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