As I write this, I can hear lively Chassidic music playing out in the street. I am fortunate in that I live in a location where Hachnosas Sifrei Torah take place every now and then. I am alerted to the possibility of one taking place when I hear loud Jewish music.
I go out on my porch which overlooks an avenue and have a bird's eye view of a wonderful procession of dancing and strolling people accompanying a new Sefer Torah to its new home. In the more elaborate celebrations, children in white shirts are given (safe) torches to hold and there are large circles of dancers.
In today's day and age, this is done with the help of the police who block off streets to allow the safe passage of the Torah. What a contrast to the article I read earlier today in which a woman describes life in Frankfurt in the aftermath of Kristallnacht. She says they watched Germans smashing their way into the beis medrash across from her house and seeing a Sefer Torah thrown out the window upon which they tore kria.
In fact, many of the people attending the Hachnosas Sifrei Torah I get to see are themselves Holocaust survivors or the children of survivors. The survivors probably never dreamed of the day when gentile police would help Jews give honor to the Torah.
It's a sign of the times. 70 years ago being escorted by police meant being taken to gas chambers whereas today, on the threshold of the Era of Redemption, the police are helping Jews actualize their real roles in this time of Chesed for Klal Yisrael.
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