A Sefer Torah written in memory of Max Steinberg, an American lone soldier killed last summer during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, was dedicated on July 12 in Yerushalayim in the presence of family, friends and members of his company from the Golani 13 brigade.
Max was determined to make a difference in the world. A native of California, he was 22 when he went to Israel for the first time in the summer of 2012 on a Taglit-Birthright Israel trip for young adults, along with his siblings Jake and Paige.
The oldest child of Stuart and Evie Steinberg of Woodland Hills, Calif., he was so impressed by his experiences that a few months later, in September, he moved to Israel and joined the Israel Defense Forces as a “lone soldier”—meaning he had no family there.
A sharpshooter, Steinberg was assigned to the Golani 13 brigade and rose to the rank of sergeant. He died last summer, at the age of 24, in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza as part of “Operation Protective Edge.”
Some 30,000 people attended the funeral in Yerushalayim to pay their respects, showing the family that indeed, he was not alone—and neither are they. (Back in the United States, another 1,000 individuals attended a memorial for Steinberg several weeks later in Beverly Hills, Calif.)
Steinberg followed in the path of more than 5,700 other lone soldiers currently serving in the IDF—young men and women who, in many cases, gave up the comforts of their Diaspora homes to live in Eretz Yisroel.
Friends and family of the fallen young man wanted to create something lasting in his memory. They chose to have a new Sefer Torah written.
Creating an account on “Jewcer”—a website where people can read about, and if they so choose, donate to, various different Jewishly-oriented fundraising projects—they started raising funds for the memorial Torah.
“This campaign is good for the Jewish people because the Torah represents our history, culture and values,” his parents wrote on the site. “The Torah is central to our identity as a people. We are proud and beholden to defend it. This Torah will serve as a reminder that our cultures and traditions are worth fighting for, and it will bring comfort to those protecting Jewish life.”
More than 260 people answered the call, raising some $52,000. (About $50,000 was needed to write the Sefer Torah.)
Rabbi Shlomo Bistritzky of Chabad of the Conejo in Agoura Hills, Calif., met the Steinbergs several times and recounts that the local response to the memorial Torah was very positive, with donations coming in from a cross-section of the Jewish community in the greater Los Angeles region and beyond. The rabbi hopes that the Torah will provide the family with some nechamah—some peace and comfort—knowing it will be used by others in their son’s battalion.
{Matzav.com}
There are no words sufficient to thank Max Steinberg a”h for the ultimate sacrifice he made protecting his brethren in Eretz Yisroel. Yehi zichroi boruch.