We spent much of our first day in Jakarta visiting three different cemeteries. The first was in the centre of Jakarta and contains a cluster of at least seven Jewish graves. Those buried here are predominantly Dutch Jews who traveled far from home with the Dutch East Indies Company. Some, like Ben’s grandfather, married local women and put down roots in Indonesia. The old cemetery is lovely and well-looked after by attendants hoping for small donations from those visiting their family graves. But the cemetery brought moments of quiet shock as well: most of the Jewish graves had been desecrated. The inscriptions have been partially or entirely broken off, so that it is no longer possible to see the names of those buried there. These were the only graves we could see that had been disturbed, and I wondered at the motivations of those committed enough to their mission to scout out the few Jewish headstones located anywhere in the hundreds of square miles of Jakarta so that they could destroy them. Below is the only fully intact headstone we saw. These broken headstones were only one indication that something has shifted within Indonesia in the last 2 ½ years. In most ways, the country feels reassuringly the same: airlines still provide invocation cards in the seat pockets that enable passengers to offer prayers from any or all of the six different official religious faiths of the country. In Bali, I was invited to have my photo taken with a large group of Muslim tourists from Yogyakarta in central Java visiting Hindu sites richly decorated with the images of their gods. I had nothing but friendly and sometimes really delightful interactions with Muslims around the country. But a closer look points to very worrying indications that the country is at a tipping point. We noticed a far greater military presence than in the past, most especially in the eastern areas of Papua and Ambon but in western Java as well. One afternoon, we were traveling down a main road in Ambon City when a military convoy passed us from the other direction. Among the vehicles were two open trucks with machine guns mounted on top. Soldiers were manning the machine guns, looking for all the world as if they anticipating having to open fire at any moment. It was more a sight I might have expected to see in an authoritarian state under siege rather than in a pluralistic democracy like Indonesia. I was so astonished that it took a minute or two for the full impact to hit. We were at the outskirts of Ambon on our way back from visiting a neighbouring island. I returned from the bathroom to hear from David that he’d had a deeply disturbing encounter with a group of religious Muslim men. Of course, there was no way they could tell he was Jewish, but they could certainly tell that he was from a western country. He reported that the men had looked at him with absolute hatred in their eyes. He’d never experienced anything like it in his many travels here and elsewhere. Several of our Indonesian friends have commented on how the Indonesian government has chosen to look the other way rather than engaging head-on with rising Islamist extremism. Entire neighbourhoods of some cities have begun extremist enclaves, with non-Muslims advised to think twice before visiting. (below is one of the desecrated graves in Jakarta) In Jakarta, expatriates from Saudi Arabia have begun popping up in decently large numbers. On our visit to the spectacular Safari Park in Bogor, we found ourselves surrounded by Saudi families. The men and boys were dressed casually and comfortably. The women, meanwhile, were concealed under matching black niqabs with narrow slits for their eyes. Ben said that they are using Indonesia as a way station as they apply for Australian visas, but I’m not sure that’s the whole story. We noticed the large number of magnificent mosques even in slum areas and wondered where the funding is coming from. It’s also hard to escape the reality that Indonesia has fallen on very hard economic times. Unlike western countries, the government did not step forward with large-scale relief packages to assist its citizens through Covid. People suffered then, and they’re still suffering now. I am fearful how this combustible mixture of unemployment and Islamist extremism will impact on the country I have come to cherish and especially on the people I love. Two of those beloved people were dearly missed on this visit, and I was grateful we had an opportunity to visit both of their graves. Ehud was one of the founding members of the United Indonesian Jewish Community, and held the distinction of being the only truly affluent member—at least by Indonesian standards. He put his heart, soul and resources into helping the community. When he built a wedding venue a few years ago, he added a small synagogue on the upper floor. This is where the community’s Torah scroll lives, and where the congregation continues to gather when it can. Ehud tragically died of Covid last year, and I was privileged to assist with the unveiling of his headstone at the second cemetary we visited. The second person we’ve lost since our last visit was Yaakov, who died in his sleep only a month after we first met him in late 2019. He was not even forty years old. He had joined the community relatively recently, but it was already clear that he had the potential to be a fantastic teacher of Torah and all things Jewish in Jakarta. Very sadly, his sister became ill and passed away four years before he did—a terrible loss for his parents and his three surviving siblings. We visited his grave far outside of downtown Jakarta along with his stepmother and his sister Tziva, who is now a pillar of the Jakarta congregation. Two days later, we met with his deeply grieving father and younger brother and sister. All have decided to embrace Judaism since Yaakov’s death. His younger brother chose the Jewish name Nissim, which means “miracles.” He said that Judaism has been a miracle in his life, showing him a path back to life after so much grief. That late afternoon and evening was another marathon of beit din interviews, with ten adults meeting with us individually. Once again, the stories were amazing: one man is a former Christian pastor who made it his special cause to attack Rabbi Ben on the internet. He has now chosen to become Jewish after a long period of self-reflection. How I would love to find that attitude of openness among others in the world! Another man wrote a beautiful essay which even referenced the revered scholar Maimonides. He later presented me with an extraordinary gift: an Indonesian-Hebrew dictionary, created by a Muslim scholar of Hebrew. I have brought it back to Australia and expect to find it really useful as I continue on my efforts to speak Indonesian well enough that someday I won’t have to rely on a translator at all.
The interviews finished up by 9:00 pm on Wednesday night. Sadly, I did not get to be present for the final step in the process: immersion in a mikveh. Ben, Rachel, David and Shelley all packed into the car on Thursday morning to drive me to the Jakarta airport, where I began the trip back to Adelaide. I arrived safely (with my luggage!) on Friday morning, and enjoyed deep breaths of fresh Australian air. Quite a change from the horrendous smog of Jakarta. I am so sorry to have missed what looked like an amazing Shabbat celebration at the Jakarta synagogue, as those who had now completed their conversion process had the opportunity to participate fully for the first time. At the service, Rabbi David also presented Rabbi Ben with a magnificent megillah, a hand-written scroll containing the biblical book of Esther. David’s colleague Rabbi Robert Kasman commissioned the scroll in memory of his wife Sharon specifically to be used in Indonesia. What a fantastic gift and a beautiful legacy. I’ll have my last blog entry for this trip up in a few days, with reflections about the quirks and delights of Indonesia.
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Rabbi Shoshana KaminskyI've been the rabbi of Beit Shalom Progressive Synagogue in Adelaide since 2006. As part of the Council of Progressive Rabbis of Australia, New Zealand and Asia, I'm now on my fifth trip to Indonesia to teach, pray and celebrate with the communities here. Archives
July 2022
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