Hahahahaha....lacha.

This is a regular responce when a Torah falls or is dropped. Over the years there have been numerous rulings as to the type of fasting to be done. Rabbi David Lau wisely chose a "easy" way so as the fasting is "shared" by the whole community. May their fast go well and pass quickly.

They are very heavy, and I think dancing with them is a risky thing to do. The Sephardi Scrolls are in heavy wooden casing, adding to their weight. We shoudl hav more respect and fear for the torah wihtout dancing all night and getting drunk with the Scrolls.

its just a book.

when you get drunk on simchah torah you have missed something very big. May the fast be easy for them.

At least that way someone could get some good from this nonsense. Really. Twelve year olds drop things, especially heavy things while trying to please their fathers and be "men". Isn't there enough nonsense in this world? Aren't there really serious problems that require serious attention?

maybe they need to fast for #1 LOL. Hashem b'emet yerachem aleinu.

Wll you invite me to your 5th birthday party? Or are you older than that but grossly immature?

its just a book! poor kid, leave him alone!

president and gabbai of shul- even though members fasted- it IS something to honor - do NOT lol

Fast Slowly ,Fast Fast ,Fast Backward or Fast Forward.

If a similar article had been publsihed in a non-Jewish country using the same nasty, snide tone as this one, then all Jews, reiligious or otherwise would have been up in arms and the ADL demanding a retraction. None of you were asked to fast and there were no objections from the community. If the observant people who attended the service were able to understand the brevity of the situation , why should it be ridiculed by you the Israeli public. It sounds like anti-Semitic propoganda.

They just love to pick up on what they think are "stupid rulings" However, this shows just how seriously Jews value the Torah. Perhaps their fasting will be an atonement for all of us.

blintzes next Thursday. Oh well.

Pity they didn't fast for the baby boy that was brutally beaten by his Haredi father. I don't get it. I just don't get it!!!

The rabbi's ruling over this incident is utterly wrong. Rabbis such as this are arrogantly self-righteous and incompetent. Perhaps it would be better for the rabbi to perform the fast too eh!? Or maybe only the rabbi should perform it for the error of taking upon himself the right to condemn the whole synagogue. Send this rabbi back to school and ask him to think about GOD as a Compassionate and Merciful GOD. Does this Rabbi believe the Earth was created in 7 days ? Does this rabbi believe it rained for 40 days and nights on Noah's ark ? If so, What nonsense is he expecting the child who dropped the Torah scroll to believe? Did GOD create human beings to be free to have little accidents like that? Or to be slaves to a rabbi's sense of morality! What would the rabbi have demanded of the boy if he had been injured in the accident eh? Would he have required the child to fast for a week? Stupid rabbi. You have terrorised the child now. A synagogue should not be a place that children are scared to enter in to. It is a place where they can learn to help each other when they have accidents in life ......... moral or physical accidents. Back to divinity school rabbi. Off you go.

I see the schism all too clear just from these respondents. Some of you choose to scoff at the whole thing out of ignorance and derision, mocking things you don't bother to learn about nor understand. Others show respect, understanding and choose words of encouragment. Fundraiser lie... we AREN'T one, its about time we seperated and acted according to Jewish interests, not Canaanite ones.

They cry when an image of one their saints fall and break. We Jews watch it on TV and think: what an ignorant people...

It's a funny headline. IT IS!!! How else could they all repent for such a shocking mishap. Well, they can't donate one month's salary, because they don't work, they can't paint the beit knesset, because they are in yeshiva all day, so all that's left really, is to fast. I'm sorry, I find amusement in this. I hope the little'un didn't get a clip round the ear.

Ridiculous! a poor child drops a piece of parchment- yes, respected and important piece of parchment, but it is still at the end of the day a man-made parchment. WHY FAST?! IT WAS A MISTAKE! - get over it; it's just some medieval superstition from over 1000 years ago to fast. The scarier thing is that these people sit in the Knesset and make national policy, determining what should be taught in schools, what we should eat, when we can take a bus, etc! SEPARATE RELIGION FROM STATE!

I dont like the silly jokes people are making about this article. Are they nuts?

This is no a strange case: Here in Brazil , some years ago my brother in law falled with the torah: He was an old man, but all the community were obliged to fast. It occurs in Sidon Synagoge sefaradic in Rio de Janeiro Brazil.

its good to see he atleast respect the Torah and all of you other people with not respect are very bad you should be ashamed of yourselfs!