Davening in Minsk
Eliyahu, A.
DAVENING IN MINSK A. ELIYAHU Saturday afternoon in Minsk, a dark, overcast afternoon, with the beginning of light snow, the first of the season. Shabbat in the synagogue. The synagogue in Minsk is...
...the synagogue leader who is really a representative of that^ State whose presence wtthii^JMi synagogue defile- it and makes of prayer .1 pretense...
...What singing But today we will sing too...
...they urge, anxious in share whatever they have with us, to get us to say how good, how tasty their feast in the shadows lengthening into evening...
...O God...
...Let's talk of other things...
...It says 'in his genera-lions' to show you how great he really was...
...For these Jews, perhaps it is melancholy for all the past of which they are the remnant, and hope for the eventual restoration^ if not for them, for the people and the tradition of which iheyare a part...
...Who is like You...
...The rabbis discussed it and one said: it means that he was not really such a righteous man—" The learned man...
...Ilcie there is nothing...
...At the end of the service a tall man standing in front of us spits on the floor as he recites the Aleynu...
...It has been changed into a theater, the interior remodeled and restyled, the exterior stripped of all Jewish signs...
...In the old Jay v when there were difficulties w hen pogroms were in the offing, the Chassidim used to teach the people ng this song and it gave them courage...
...Some fish, bread, salt, cakes, some mottled apples and drinks...
...At the back of the room an old wooden table has been set up for the feast...
...Go in peace...
...But somehow it is so totally in place here...
...svnaeopues, the lingering touch, not to lose contact...
...In the morning the women were framed within the opening like classic portraits of the European Jewish women, old women with kerchiefs covering wispy hair, women with wide smiles when they saw us...
...Perhaps it is the melancholy of Seudah Shelishit...
...It was all too obvious...
...Even in such a generation, even at such a time of evil he remained righteous and faithful...
...The synagogue in Minsk is really a small, dilapidated, brown wooden house situated in an old section of dirt streets and crooked lanes, a section not yet torn down and replaced by the massive blocks of apartments which constitute the new city of Minsk...
...We wash, and we are asked to make the blessing over bread and to sit at the head of the table...
...the beginning ol a new cycle, a new year for those who no change and no hope for th future, there are few »nmcn and...
...T/esehem l'sholom...
...Wherever a man goes, he goes to his roots...
...There was a murmur of approval from the men, and then the learned one spoke again...
...Maybe you will help...
...May God bless all of Israel ' "Drink, cat...
...But in the afternoon, the dark Overcast afternoon of Shabbat Bereshit...
...Thev hum the melodies and learn the choruses...
...I protest that my Yiddish is not good enough, but they will not admit that and I know full well that I want to say something, even in the broken language which is all I possess of their treasured speech...
...a niggun, which used to be sung at lime of trouble...
...he had said...
...Our rabbis asked: what is the meaning of the term 'in his generations'' Is it not superfluous...
...When it goes, will another synagogue replace it...
...The author lives in Jerusalem...
...You can still see the real synagogue of Minsk near the heart of the city...
...id din...
...icniics Mom<m/47...
...It is a large, tall-pillared building in the classic style of European synagogues of the last century, but you will not recognize it as a synagogue...
...May the 1 Ofd bless you out of Zion and may you witness the favor of Jerusalem— peace be upon Israel...
...The request of a Soviet Jew is a command and not an invitation when you are there as we were, to help...
...But another rabbi said: No...
...wrote Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchcv...
...Again, as in al...
...Maybe it is the chance to sing a litlle or talk a little as if there were no troubles and no oppression...
...a room for the women which has an opening like the frame of a picture, facing into the central room, the si/c of a living room or two...
...the afternoon prayer, to I begin...
...In any case, we have responded to the invitation and are nailing now for mincha...
...May He who makes .in high make peace fur us and for all Israel...
...Beiter m I I t; Ik >f t icstilings, lieiier to da 1 en mmcha...
...after hav-dalah...
...One could write an essay on the buildings in Russia which are not what they were or what they really are...
...What is so special about Shabbat afternoon...
...the third meal which is always suffused with longing for the Sabbath which is departing, sadness for the work of the week which is returning...
...But not before we received the blessings...
...What a Simchas Torah we had...
...What is it like in America...
...Will there he peace...
...And he began the song...
...But before the conversation can go further or become too serious, one of the men shakes his head and says...
...he was a righteous man...
...They are more than songs: we are sending messages...
...Maybe he cannot be bothered to come for this minor service...
...there is an old melody...
...in ihe women's section, two or three women peer out to see and hear...
...And when it did...
...Yes...
...And then separation...
...Maybe the guest who sang so well for us will give us a word of Torah...
...The last one is stror loud...
...he said...
...A. Eliyahu is a pseudonym...
...You are the righteous men , of this generation...
...among the silent," says the Mid-rash, watching the degradation of Your children and keeping silent...
...But this old house is still a s; gogue...
...I paused again and they nodded...
...Through a yard, past a shed piled up with cords of wood, fuel for the winter...
...inside a small entry way...
...They shook our hands...
...we responded, "a good year for all Israel...
...And then one of them, a man who led many of the songs and who seems to know many things—someone whispers to us that he once learned in a Yeshiva—asks me to say something...
...1 would like to spit in front of the government offices...
...Rabosai, my masters, my — friends...
...The one Hebrew speaker among the men made certain to ask us...
...I: •¦¦ as strangely rhythmic, with a phrase which kept repeating after every verse: al tira avdi Ya'akov, fear not My servant Jacob . . . Whatever may come, when en arise Fear not My servant Jacob and the men...
...It is another of those opportunities to speak with us, to * I establish contact «ith the great world of Jews outside...
...On the contrary...
...h\ tlie KCiB building, at the foot of the Gabbai, or maybe when we get off the S plane in Amsterdam—for these are the worshippers of nothingness who -tislaved the sons of the Living God...
...Come and sing with us...
...prompted me from time to time when my Yiddish faltered...
...How shall 1 say it...
...all of us, learned the refrain quickly so that the phrase grew in strength with every repetition . .. no matter how dark, no matter how hopeless Fear not My servant Jacob...
...It's not good to speak of this...
...Tnr^rw^TO^axfer Hbw strange the words...
...I'lie service proceeds as if all wem well, shrei voshvei vetecha—Happy are ev that dwell in Your h.use...
...n few do/cn men In the morning they had made a point of asking us to come back for this service...
...Night had come long ago, but there was no desire to stop, to bring the Sabbath to a close...
...What do you know about Israel...
...A good year for you, for all...
...It ceased being a synagogue soon after the revolution and became a Yiddish theater, but when Jewish culture was no longer in favor, it became a community theater...
...He is not here this noon...
...The shul was full of people...
...at mn<;1...
...In his generation, which was a generation of wicked men...
...Shalom—shalom al V Israel—peace l upon Israel...
...Rahosai...
...who knew the traditional interpretation us well as I did...
...Here...
...Where are you from...
...In comparison with them he was good, but had he lived at Abraham's time, he would not have been outstanding...
...Be strong and of good courage...
...All through the trip, everyf where in Russia, the words of the prayerbook reveal strange twists of meaning...
...the honored guests from "America...
...I have seldom seen that before, perhaps never, and had thought it disgusting...
...You who want to remain Jews, you who come to the synagogue, you . . ." and I meant Xialls the two refusniks who were there, hut could not say it, "you are like Noah, the righteous men in this generation of the flood...
...Everything is on levels, meaning within meaning, ironic phrases with intense meaning or satiric comments on what is happening...
...The Gabbai is not there, but his spirit still rules...
...Enough, enough...
...ti enter from a back lane, through a swinging gate, with no sign indicating the nature of the building...
...at the place where once the prayer stated "for they prostrate themselves to nothingness and vanity...
...But they really do not need our songs, they know so many of their own, old melodies, some that I have heard, and now I see where my teachers learned them...
...The cakes are left over from Simchas Torah," we are told...
...But it had to end...
...You can teach us some songs...
...the prayer of separation, which they made over wine and a candle (they had no spices which are usually used as well), we left the synagogue...
...The questions are always the same...
...a phrase deleted by censors generations ago...
...The Torah described Noah as "a righteous man, perfect in his generations...
...Maybe it is the absence of the Gabbai...
...The strength of character to stand up against the .vorld of evil, that is an awesome thing If someone li\es at a time when there are no moral people, when the government...
...I did not have to put it into words...
...I stopped...
...It is easy to be good when everyone is good, but to be good when everyone else is evil is very difficult—/ehr stiver...
...Nevertheless they ask us to sing, new songs they do not know, and we do...
...Shver—shver—very, very hard...
...the synagogues ihatar^j theaters, the churches thai are museums, the cathedrals that are galleries...
...m\ masters, just a few Is in my poor language about the portion of the Torah we just read, the beginning of next week's reading about Noah...
...We are crowded together around it, and above us...
Vol. 4 • July 1979 • No. 7
