Just days before Passover, crowds gathered in S. Petersburg, Russia's Great Choral Synagogue to welcome a new Torah scroll donated by Mikhail Prince, Yakov Shuster, David Tsaturov and Yoram Borisov.

Led by Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbis Menachem Mendel Pewzner - the city's chief rabbi - and Zvi Pinsky, the ceremony began with the traditional writing of the scroll's last holy letters before being wrapped and adorned with a crown.

A procession then carried the Torah through the city's streets, with the celebrants winding their way back to the synagogue, where a banquet awaited them. As per the benefactors' request, the majority of the scroll was written in Jerusalem before being delivered to the S. Petersburg community. ...