As Rachel, luminous wife of Benny Verbrugge, lit the Shabbat candles on the 36th floor of a luxurious Jakarta apartment building, I started to cry. One year ago was one of the best and also very worst Shabbatot of my life. The best, because I spent it in the company of people for whom Judaism was such a precious part of their lives, and the worst, because I knew that as soon as Shabbat ended, I would be flying out to Washington, DC, where my mother was dying.
I am so grateful I have had an opportunity to have another Shabbat in Jakarta without such a terrible cloud hanging over me. Twenty people packed into our living room singing Shalom Aleichem at the top of their lungs just about raised the roof. Our little minyan brought together Jews from nearly the whole of Indonesia: Benny and Rachel live in Sumatra. There were about a dozen people from Jakarta, many of whom we had met the previous year. Plus two from eastern Java, one from Manado on Sulawesi, one from Ambon in Maluku, and two who are from Timika in Papua but currently living in the western part of Indonesia. Quite a gathering! I led the Friday evening service, which was an absolute delight. For my d’var Torah, I drew on my fledgling Indonesian to talk about the two words for “our” in the language: kita, which is an inclusive word for all of us, and kami which includes some and excludes others (example from my textbook: “Kami are going to the movies. What are you doing?”). I noted what a temptation it was to speak of God as Tuhan kami--our God, but not anyone else’s God. But of course, there are many paths to God through many different faiths. I spoke about the horrific attacks in Nice just that day, no doubt carried out by someone who believed that God belonged to him and not to others. Far better to embrace Tuhan kita--the God of us all. David followed with a d’var Torah based on the previous week’s Torah portion on the importance of respectful argument for the sake of others and treating all with kindness, in sharp contrast to Korach, who only sought more power. Afterwards, we enjoyed challah baked by several women in the community (where bread is normally not a part of the diet), talked about all kinds of things, and eventually made out way to bed.
Morning services on Saturday were equally energising, and it was great to get to be “a Jew in the pew” as Shelley and David led services. My d’var Torah about the role of Miriam in the Torah, in rabbinical literature and in the contemporary Passover seder was a big hit, and one of those in attendance translated the essence of it into Indonesian on his Facebook page! After lunch, we had a two hour rest break and time for a much-needed nap, especially since I am fighting off a cold. Half a dozen of the Indonesian women all curled up in one bedroom, while the men lay down on straw mats on the living room floor and went to sleep. At 3:00, David taught a lesson on kabbalah at the request of a number of those present. I noticed the two boys in attendance looking very, very bored and offered to take them into one of the bedrooms for something more on their level. Shelley joined me, and we taught them the essential life skill of singing “David Melekh Yisrael” with hand motions. Shelley and David had brought along Hebrew letter stamps as a gift for the community, and we worked our way through the alef-bet, learning the pronunciation of each of the letters. The boys proudly presented their letter pages to their fathers.
After the afternoon service, we had about our fourth question-and-answer round. So many questions! This time, I suggested we split into men’s and women’s gatherings. About eight of us women headed off to one of the bedrooms. This was quite a special hour, as we talked about everything from relationship issues to questions of burial (in Jakarta, the lease on a burial plot must be renewed every three years!). We got so absorbed in our discussions that the men started knocking on the door to get us out to make havdalah to end Shabbat! As we returned to the larger group, we saw that more people had returned from the previous night (it’s important to note that some needed to travel two hours in each direction!) The singing at havdalah was the most magical of all. When we said the blessing over the candle, everyone took turns coming up to the candle and holding their hands up to the light. Then we sang “Eliahu HaNavi” and the door was opened for Elijah just at Passover. It was a wonderful, if completely exhausting day
So Shabbat came to a close. And then it was time “ambil photo”--to shoot dozens of photos in different combinations. Followed by the first of our goodbyes. More will take place today, as people begin to fly back home, and then more on Monday, following the hoped-for immersion of about nine conversion candidates, whom we’ll be interviewing today. I’ll hope to talk to you soon!
I am so grateful I have had an opportunity to have another Shabbat in Jakarta without such a terrible cloud hanging over me. Twenty people packed into our living room singing Shalom Aleichem at the top of their lungs just about raised the roof. Our little minyan brought together Jews from nearly the whole of Indonesia: Benny and Rachel live in Sumatra. There were about a dozen people from Jakarta, many of whom we had met the previous year. Plus two from eastern Java, one from Manado on Sulawesi, one from Ambon in Maluku, and two who are from Timika in Papua but currently living in the western part of Indonesia. Quite a gathering! I led the Friday evening service, which was an absolute delight. For my d’var Torah, I drew on my fledgling Indonesian to talk about the two words for “our” in the language: kita, which is an inclusive word for all of us, and kami which includes some and excludes others (example from my textbook: “Kami are going to the movies. What are you doing?”). I noted what a temptation it was to speak of God as Tuhan kami--our God, but not anyone else’s God. But of course, there are many paths to God through many different faiths. I spoke about the horrific attacks in Nice just that day, no doubt carried out by someone who believed that God belonged to him and not to others. Far better to embrace Tuhan kita--the God of us all. David followed with a d’var Torah based on the previous week’s Torah portion on the importance of respectful argument for the sake of others and treating all with kindness, in sharp contrast to Korach, who only sought more power. Afterwards, we enjoyed challah baked by several women in the community (where bread is normally not a part of the diet), talked about all kinds of things, and eventually made out way to bed.
Morning services on Saturday were equally energising, and it was great to get to be “a Jew in the pew” as Shelley and David led services. My d’var Torah about the role of Miriam in the Torah, in rabbinical literature and in the contemporary Passover seder was a big hit, and one of those in attendance translated the essence of it into Indonesian on his Facebook page! After lunch, we had a two hour rest break and time for a much-needed nap, especially since I am fighting off a cold. Half a dozen of the Indonesian women all curled up in one bedroom, while the men lay down on straw mats on the living room floor and went to sleep. At 3:00, David taught a lesson on kabbalah at the request of a number of those present. I noticed the two boys in attendance looking very, very bored and offered to take them into one of the bedrooms for something more on their level. Shelley joined me, and we taught them the essential life skill of singing “David Melekh Yisrael” with hand motions. Shelley and David had brought along Hebrew letter stamps as a gift for the community, and we worked our way through the alef-bet, learning the pronunciation of each of the letters. The boys proudly presented their letter pages to their fathers.
After the afternoon service, we had about our fourth question-and-answer round. So many questions! This time, I suggested we split into men’s and women’s gatherings. About eight of us women headed off to one of the bedrooms. This was quite a special hour, as we talked about everything from relationship issues to questions of burial (in Jakarta, the lease on a burial plot must be renewed every three years!). We got so absorbed in our discussions that the men started knocking on the door to get us out to make havdalah to end Shabbat! As we returned to the larger group, we saw that more people had returned from the previous night (it’s important to note that some needed to travel two hours in each direction!) The singing at havdalah was the most magical of all. When we said the blessing over the candle, everyone took turns coming up to the candle and holding their hands up to the light. Then we sang “Eliahu HaNavi” and the door was opened for Elijah just at Passover. It was a wonderful, if completely exhausting day
So Shabbat came to a close. And then it was time “ambil photo”--to shoot dozens of photos in different combinations. Followed by the first of our goodbyes. More will take place today, as people begin to fly back home, and then more on Monday, following the hoped-for immersion of about nine conversion candidates, whom we’ll be interviewing today. I’ll hope to talk to you soon!