"Erez Told Me in a Dream to Go to Mount Herzl to Find People to Help Dedicate a Torah Scroll in His Memory"

In February 2011, Rabbi Yom Tov Eliach led a group of 50 American high school students on a trip to Israel. The last stop of the trip, before heading to the airport, was the cemetery on Mount Herzl. As you can imagine, touring the cemetery and seeing the graves of young soldiers who sacrificed their lives, along with hearing their heroic stories, is a very powerful experience.

"The hardest place for me to visit is Mount Herzl. Because instead of the young burying the old, the old bury the young," says Rabbi Eliach.

While Rabbi Eliach described to the students the sacrifices made by these young soldiers and their families, he suddenly saw a few meters away an elderly couple crying over one of the graves.

"Suddenly, everything I described—what the parents, the family go through—was right before our eyes. We saw a man and a woman, and it was very clear they were a mom and dad visiting the grave of their son."

He saw that there was a photo of a young Israeli soldier on the tombstone. His name was Erez Dror.

"One of us leaned forward and asked the woman, 'Can you tell us a little about your son?'"

Mrs. Dror began to tell them that Erez was a paratrooper who was killed in 2006.

"You could see the kids' faces, they all felt the pain. Everyone understood, as much as one can at that age, how they felt."

Then she tells them something that leaves them speechless. She says, "Last night, I had a dream. Erez came to me, and he said: You didn't get to lead me to the chuppah, but I would like you to dedicate a Torah scroll in my name. Dedicating a Torah scroll is like leading me to the chuppah."

And here's the most chilling part. He tells her in the dream: "Go to Mount Herzl, there are good people there. Good people will come, and they will help you to dedicate a Torah scroll."

"Something about this woman just sparked a connection within us, and we all as a group decided to take on this project, to fundraise to sponsor this Torah scroll in memory of her son," says one of the group participants.

"One of us leaned forward and told her, 'Next year, with Hashem's help, we will return with a Torah scroll just as you dreamed.'"

"It was a group of secular kids and religious kids, kids from private schools and kids from public schools. It was strange, but it was as if we were possessed by the need to do this."

The following year, in February 2012, they returned with a brand new Torah scroll. They traveled to Ma'ale Adumim, and the final letters of the Torah scroll were written in Erez's room.

"I really cried," Erez's mother recounts, "I was very moved, this is truly Am Yisrael with us."

The excitement was palpable in the air. As they closed the Torah scroll and went out to the street, people began to dance. There were secular, religious, Ashkenazi, Sephardi. You could see on every balcony—people were dancing on the balconies. "Every type of Jew you can imagine was involved in this. Those who donated the money, those who were on the first tour, the Sofer STAM, the musicians playing, the two chief rabbis of Ma'ale Adumim, the police in the streets keeping order. I'm sure none of them will ever forget that day. Am Yisrael was there," says Rabbi Eliach.

"A Jew, even when he is far away, such as in the United States—there is no, the Jewish heart is one," says Erez's mother. "All of Israel is responsible for one another. It is one body, one soul," concludes Rabbi Eliach.