Jerusalem – Hundreds of yeshiva students and residents danced with a new Torah scroll down the narrow cobblestone paths of the Old City’s Jewish Quarter last week to inaugurate a building donated by Canadian philanthropist and businessman Leslie Dan.

The facilities will contain Aish HaTorah’s interactive museum of Jewish history. Located opposite the Western Wall, Aish HaTorah has taught Torah to mostly unaffiliated Jewish youth since 1974.

Rabbi Hillel Weinberg assumed Aish HaTorah’s helm after his father, Rabbi Noach Weinberg, passed away last February.

“We all feel that the Rosh Yeshiva (dean), of blessed memory, is here. He needed to go to Heaven to bring this building,” Rabbi Hillel Weinberg told supporters and students.

Ironically, the building, built during the Ottoman era, was previously used by an American missionary to convert Jews during the 19th century. A 2,000-year-old aqueduct, from the time of the Second Temple, travelled through the eastern façade of the building. This aqueduct brought water from Chevron directly to the Temple Mount. It covered a distance of 81 kilometres and descended an average of one centimetre every kilometre, making it an engineering masterpiece.

Jerusalem’s Mayor Nir Barkat told celebrants that he envisions Jerusalem, a city of conflict, to eventually become a bastion of peace. To this end, he wants to significantly increase tourism to Israel’s capital.

“This requires education. Hence, the role of the building is significant,” he said.

The building will host an interactive museum of Jewish history. On the rooftop, a scale model of the Second Temple overlooks the site of the former Temple. The model, which was based on exacting description in the Mishnah Midot, took nearly a year to create. It is composed of marble and Jerusalem stone and weighs 1.2 tons.

“The Jewish people contributed ideas to the world like justice for all, monotheism, love your neighbour as yourself and universal education,” related Ephraim Shore, Aish HaTorah’s director. “Those ideas were nurtured, studied and exported to all of humanity from here, the centre of our spiritual world, the Temple.”

Dan was first introduced to Aish HaTorah when Rabbi Noach Weinberg spoke at the Toronto home of his neighbour, Harvey Hecker, who also contributed to the building. Dan said that the rabbi’s charismatic ability to bring Jews closer to Judaism is what prompted him to donate. After the Holocaust, Dan immigrated to Canada from Budapest with $5, Hecker told the Jewish Tribune. He started as a lumberjack but eventually became a business mogul and philanthropist. Dan said, “Everything that I had is from G-d. I’m going to give it back.”

Aish HaTorah’s Rabbi Eliezer Blatt stated, “We’re trying to do everything as if the rosh yeshiva were here.”

A tribute wall features film clips of Rabbi Weinberg’s teachings.

”Our tribute wall puts him here. He was a lover of all Jews and his legacy is right here in the building,” Rabbi Blatt stated.