Isakov Family Brings a New Torah Scroll From Israel to the Or-Natan Synagogue in Memory of Their Parents

This report was translated from Russian by Bukharian Jewish Post from coverage by The Bukharian Times.

A new Torah scroll was welcomed on Oct. 18, 2026, at a celebration at the L’Amour restaurant organized by the Isakov family, who traveled to New York for the occasion to mark it with relatives and friends in America, The Bukharian Times reported. About 150 people attended.

Emmanuel Nektalov, a young lawyer and a nephew of the Isakovs, told the paper that the brothers Iosif, Daniel, Roman and Eduard Isakov and his mother, Eleonora Isakova, live in New York, while a fourth brother, Semyon, lives in Israel. Semyon brought the new scroll to New York; it was written by the scribe Rabbi Mikhael Khashev. “He also came to finish writing the Torah scroll in Queens,” Nektalov said. “About 150 people gathered that day, and we all celebrated the event joyfully.”

A dedication to two parents

The scroll is dedicated to the late Bakhor (Boris) ben Okhun Isakov and Rokhel-Mafrat bat Lio Yagudaeva, the parents of his wife, said Albert Nektalov, their son-in-law. The same day also marked five years since his father-in-law’s death, he said. “That is why bringing in the new Torah scroll was such an important event for our families,” he told the paper.

The scroll will be kept at the Or-Natan synagogue, where the Isakov brothers pray, according to the report, which was written by Rafael Nektalov.

A hachnasat sefer Torah, the ceremony of completing a new scroll and bringing it into a synagogue, is often held by families in memory of loved ones. Guests are traditionally invited to take part in writing the final letters before the scroll is carried to its new home.

Sources: The Bukharian Times, “A New Torah Scroll Brought Into the Or-Natan Synagogue” (Oct. 22, 2026, in Russian).