On a summer afternoon in Kew Gardens Hills, the sound of music and shofar blasts filled a Queens Street closed to traffic as hundreds of people danced outside with Torah scrolls.
It was the kind of public celebration of Jewish life that would have been unimaginable for generations of Bukharian Jews in Soviet Central Asia — and, as Bukharian Times Editor-in-Chief Rafael Nektalov noted, one that could not take place in the same way on the streets of present-day Samarkand or Bukhara.
But on August 2 in New York, something even more remarkable happened: two Hachnasat Sefer Torah celebrations converged on the same block.
“We didn’t know,” Rita Kluyov recalled. When she and her husband, Menachem, scheduled the dedication of a new Sefer Torah in memory of their parents, they had no idea that a Moroccan congregation across the street was planning its own Torah dedication for the very same day.
With police and Shomrim closing the street, a special Torah truck first accompanied the neighboring congregation’s Sefer Torah and then traveled the few steps to the Kluyov home to collect theirs.
“It was amazing. It never happened before,” Kluyov said. “I never saw this before.”
The coincidence transformed an already meaningful family celebration into a display of Jewish unity. Members of Bukharian, Moroccan and Ashkenazi communities joined the festivities as music, singing and the sound of the shofar spilled into the street.
“The whole street was music and singing,” Kluyov recalled. “It was amazing to see.”
A Torah Years in the Making
For Menachem and Rita Kluyov and their family, the celebration marked the culmination of approximately two and a half years of planning.
The Sefer Torah was commissioned in Jerusalem, where the family took considerable care in choosing the sofer who would write it. Kluyov said they interviewed numerous sofrim in Israel before selecting one; the writing itself took approximately two years. After its completion, the Torah underwent computer checks before the family considered it ready.
The final letters were completed at the Kluyov family home in Kew Gardens Hills, which filled with relatives, friends, rabbis and community members. More than 200 people participated in the celebration.
Rabbi Binyamin Tamaev was given the honor of completing the final 72 letters. Guests were also invited to take part in the mitzvah of completing the Torah.
Family members traveled from across North America for the occasion. The Kluyovs’ children came from Florida, while grandchildren and great-grandchildren arrived from Baltimore, New Jersey and Canada.
Among the rabbis attending were Rabbi Manashe Babekov, Rabbi Moshe Deutch, Rabbi Yigal Haimoff, Rabbi Yaniv Meirov, Rabbi Manasseh Menashe, Rabbi Yakov Nasirov, Rabbi Nisanian, Rabbi Shlomo Nisanov, Rabbi Ariye Shmuel Ribacoff, Rabbi Tabibov, Rabbi Binyamin Tamaev, Rabbi Refael Ribacoff, and Rabbi Zavulunov.
Yishai Ben Haim, a paytan and chazan who traveled from Israel, led the music.
Once the final letters were written, the new scroll was escorted with music, dancing and shofar blasts to Od Yosef Chai Synagogue, where the congregation’s existing Sifrei Torah were brought out to welcome it. After Yom Kippur, the family plans to bring the Torah to a new Sephardic synagogue in Toms River, New Jersey, where it will be used for Torah readings and other mitzvot.
In Memory of Community Pillars
The new Sefer Torah was commissioned by Menachem and Rita Kluyov and their family in memory of both their parents.
Menachem’s parents, Rachamim ben Chana and Miriam bat Yael, who were born in Bukhara, raised four children there with faith, love, hard work, and strong values. Their dedication and sacrifices created a lasting legacy that continues through their family.
Rita’s parents, the late Moshe and Liza Mierov, were respected members of New York’s Bukharian Jewish community who left a significant mark on its development and on the support of Jewish educational and cultural institutions in Queens. There was hardly a charitable event at which the names of this generous couple did not appear among the donors, philanthropists and sponsors.
They were among those who helped launch many community initiatives and supported numerous projects within New York’s Bukharian Jewish community, including the construction of the new Bukharian Jewish Community Center building in Queens. They also supported Jewish education through the Jewish Institute of Queens; cultural activities, including theaters and musical ensembles; the publication of new newspapers and magazines; and assistance for low-income families.
Their children, Rita, Nison and David Mierov, as well as their grandchildren—including Hiski Mierov, vice president of the Bukharian Jewish Community Center—continue the family tradition of philanthropy and active involvement in community life in both New York and Israel.
For Rita, the dedication carries particular meaning because of the religious devotion she remembers in her own parents.
“My parents were very, very close to religion,” she said. Her father, in particular, rarely missed prayers and was deeply attached to the Bukharian synagogue and community. He contributed generously toward the construction of the synagogue, she recalled.
“For him especially, for my father, it would mean a lot,” Kluyov said of the new Torah. “It’s a big mitzvah. He would be very proud to have us write the Sefer Torah in their memory.””
By Erin Levi and Rafael Nektalov