What began as a faraway dream nearly ten years ago became an emotional reality recently, as Rabbi Chaim Moshe Zirkind, a member of Anash in Kingston, Pennsylvania, completed his own Sefer Torah, writing and producing the entire sefer from start to finish.

For Rabbi Zirkind, fulfilling the final mitzvah in Torah for every Jew to write their own Sefer Torah held unique significance.

“It was something I always wanted to do,” Rabbi Zirkind told Anash.org. “But it never seemed feasible. Just to buy the klaf could cost nearly ten thousand dollars, something I didn’t have at the time.”

Everything changed one day while he was teaching in the Mesivta in Kingston. A few of the bochurim approached him, saying they wanted to learn how to make klaf – the parchment needed for writing Sifrei Torah, tefillin, and mezuzos.

“I had studied safrus as well as how to make klaf from my grandfather, the renowned Lubavitch sofer Rabbi Eliezer Zirkind a”h,” he explained. “I told them we’d make a deal: they would gather all the tools – the frames, clips, and so on – and I would supply the raw hides.”

Soon, they began making the klaf together, from hides acquired locally. The bochurim cleaned the hides, soaked them, stretched them, and scraped them clean until they were smooth, usable parchments.

But shortly afterward, COVID hit. The yeshiva paused, and the project came to a halt. Meanwhile, Rabbi Zirkind found himself at home with spare time and many raw materials on hand.

“I decided to take the leap and bought another seventy raw hides – shlil ones – from Rabbi Altein in Crown Heights,” he said.

He built a small shed in his backyard and began working. “It’s a never-ending process. Sometimes I made only two ‘amudim’ a week, but I took it one day at a time, one skin at a time.”

After several months of preparing the klaf, the parchment was ready, and he could begin writing. Feeling the need to refresh his ksav, which he hadn’t used in some time, he spent the next year writing megillos and then mezuzos until he felt ready to begin the Sefer Torah.

On Yud Tes Kislev, 5782, he began the project of writing the Sefer Torah. He wrote whenever he had free time, steadily advancing until, in the summer of last year, he completed the Torah. The following months were spent meticulously checking and rechecking each letter to ensure there were no errors.

On Sunday, Chof Ches Shevat, the Kingston community came together to celebrate this monumental milestone.

The final letters were written in the Zirkind home, where the project had taken place over the years. From there, the community marched in a grand parade with torches, pekelach, and music by R’ Dovid Altein to the Beis Moshe shul.

Hundreds of community members and rabbonim participated, including local Rov, Rabbi Gedalya Oberlander, and Rabbi Mordechai Fine, longtime mara d’asra of Scranton. Joyous hakafos took place at the shul before everyone gathered for a celebratory seudas mitzvah and farbrengen.

“To be honest, I didn’t believe I would reach this point,” Rabbi Zirkind shared. “When I started, it felt like going into a never-ending tunnel, but I took it one day at a time.”

He credits his wife and children, whose support helped him persevere through the long years. Rabbi Zirkind shares that his accomplishment is a message of hope for everyone and that whatever goal you are striving to achieve, it can be done.

“Don’t give up,” he says. “It may seem far away and just a dream, but if you are committed, you can do it – just take it one step at a time.”

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