From Lebanon to south Tel Aviv: Historic Torah bell comes home

A Torah bell removed from a south Tel Aviv synagogue and later discovered by an IDF soldier during Operation Litani in South Lebanon in 1978 has been returned to its home. The Torah bell is made of pure silver and bears an inscription honoring the memory of one Moshe Tagan, who was buried in Tehran.

Yehuda Step, who found the bell in Lebanon and his wife, Toby, made several fruitless attempts over the years to find out where the bell came from. Only a few months ago did they make a breakthrough and meet with the great-grandchildren of the same Moshe to whom his son and their grandfather, Yosef, dedicated the inscription.

"I was a soldier on compulsory duty and served as a combat medic with the Golani Brigade, in charge of the battalion first aid center," Step said. On the road leading from Marjayoun to Abassia, I provided medical aid for the civilian population. The events left a strong impression on me. I just remember that I came back from Litani holding the bell in my hand. But I don't remember exactly where it was, and since then it's been weighing on me."

Step explained that none of the locals in Lebanon could explain where the bell had come from. He and his wife "adopted" the artifact and tried to trace it, to no avail.

"After a few decades, we woke up again and contacted the Diaspora Museum for help," Step said. "They told us the family in question was a very unusual one and a similar name had been carved on a headstone in the Holon cemetery. A few more years went by, and by chance my wife, Toby, and I happened across a report about Rabbi Avishai Elboim, who directs the Rambam Library at Beit Ariela [the central public library] in Tel Aviv.

"We reached out to him, and he immediately began helping us. He looked into the name, visited the grave, and said that the name on the Torah bell was the same name of the father of the man buried here [in Israel.] That's where the contact began."

Eventually, Step met with Yehuda Yehudai of Raanana and Yehezkel Yehudai, Moshe Tagan's descendants, at the bell's original home -- a synagogue in the south Tel Aviv Hatikva neighborhood, which used to be the home of their grandfather, Yosef. The house had undergone several rounds of renovations.

Once the bell was returned to the synagogue, Step finally felt that the circle -- which had led from south Tel Aviv to south Lebanon and back -- was closed.

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