My Report is on a Torah from my family. It was bought by my great-great grandfather Dovid Aryeh Friedman. The Torah was written in 1944 and dedicated in 1945. Since Dovid Aryeh was poor, he cashed in a life insurance policy to buy the Torah. The Torah was bought for around $500 and the mantel for about $15. The Torah was dedicated to a Synagogue in the Bronx where many relatives were in attendance, some of which were about to go overseas to fight in the War. The Torah was dedicated by Dovid Aryeh in honor of his second wife, Freyd'l, for being a loving and caring wife. The shul where the Torah was dedicated was Congregation Tifereth Moshe. It was written by a Sofer named Leib Berman.
Dovid Aryeh Friedman was from Turiv in Russia. He came to the US in 1920. He was a shoemaker and it was always his dream to have a Sefer Torah written for his family.
So After Dovid Aryeh passed away, the Torah was given to a relative and stayed in his shul in Fresh Meadaows, Queens. Then the Torah was placed in Dovid Aryeh's son Morris's house in Long Beach. Morris Friedman then gave it to my grandfather Izzy and he put it in the Old Nyack Turnpike shul. Since the Torah was getting old, my grandfather decided to get it checked by a sofer in New Square. The Torah had many problems but they were corrected by the New Square sofer. My grandfather decided to give it to my uncle's shul in Livingston, NJ. The reason my grandfather gave the Torah to my uncle's shul is that whenever my grandfather goes to that shul, there are two relatives there of Dovid Aryeh Friedman. The Torah was dedicated there in 1987, and it has been there ever since. This Sefer Torah is special because it was made from the dream of a poor shoemaker and was passed from generation to generation.
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