Every Shabbat morning, after the service, the tight-knit community of Chabad of Golders Green in the heart of Jewish London, holds a farbrengen — a kiddush of sorts with a discussion — often led by the community’s charismatic rabbinical couple, Rabbi Yossi and Rebbetzin Chanie Simon.

On Sept. 28, the talk turned to the impending High Holy Days and how Simchat Torah should be approached this year, the first anniversary of Oct. 7 terror attacks.

Rabbi Simon reminded those present of the last commandment in the Torah — that one should write one’s own sefer Torah. If that’s not possible, the community was advised, then the next best thing was to take part in the mitzvah together.

And suddenly, the two ideas came together. Chabad of Golders Green — Chabad GG, informally — would write its own Torah scroll, sponsored by the community, which would be dedicated to all of those who were killed on Oct. 7 and, the community hoped, to serve as a protective shield for the soldiers serving in the IDF today.

Immediately after Shabbat concluded on Sept. 28, the community set to work, with the ambitious goal of having a sefer Torah ready to use for this Simchat Torah, which was then less than a month away.

A new Torah scroll can cost north of £50,000 ($64,950) by itself, but with a cover for the scroll, insurance and transportation, Chabad GG was looking at closer to £60,000 ($77,940) in total. To cover the cost, the community sold each of the Torah’s 54 parshas for £1,200 ($1,558), which could be paid off monthly over the course of the year.

A sofer stam (scribe) was found in Israel who had almost finished writing a scroll and was just having it scrutinized for potential errors. He agreed to sell it to the community. And a massive printing operation was begun as posters and certificates were designed in order to honor those who had helped pay for the new sefer.

On Tuesday, a bulky parcel arrived from Israel at London’s Heathrow Airport, swathed in packaging and only identifiable as a Torah scroll by the wooden poles visible through the wrapping.

Rabbi Simon and a local sofer stam, Menachem Gilbert, prepared to complete the final stage of the process — filling in the last verse of the Torah, “And for all the great might and awesome power that Moses displayed before all Israel.” 

They rolled the parchment until only the last section was visible and set the scroll on a tallit that was spread out on a wide table. Each letter in each word had already been outlined, so — armed with special kosher ink and a delicate quill pen — Gilbert asked each participant to appoint him as their shaliach, or agent, so that he could fill in the letter on their behalf.

Men and women lined up (including this reporter), recited the necessary liturgy and — careful not to spill a drop — held the tiny inkwell for Gilbert as he dipped in his pen and filled in their letter. 

Among those present was Shai Shojat, whose uncle, Michel Nisenbaum, from Brazil, was among those murdered on Oct. 7. Michel, 59, was killed in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, and his body was taken into Gaza and only retrieved by the army on May 24. Shojat, who attended the ceremony with his young children, entered a letter in the sefer in his uncle’s name.

To decorate the sefer, a silver crown was donated by a member of the community, who also commissioned an embroidered cover, designed to show the map of Israel and memorialize the Oct. 7 victims, stylizing the Hebrew word, Yizkor, a memorial prayer, with the last three letters made to look like the numerals of the date. Finally, Chabad GG saved one-inch squares of the cloth used for the cover of the Torah scroll and distributed them pinned to cards featuring the names of those killed in the attacks.

The aim of the entire project, according to the community, is “to dance for all the souls taken from us. How else can we remember the 1,200 lost? What else can we do in the merit of the protection of those still on the front lines? May this Torah be a beacon of light for those who have tragically been taken from us and as a security for those fighting tirelessly so that no more are taken.”