I have included some of the beautiful words my dad wrote about one of the most special times we had, when we visited the Kibbutz where my great grandfather donated the money to build a shul. I was so honored to visit, to see the history and to meet the people who benefit from this building on a regular basis:
Today Alicia and I went to Kibbutz Ein HaShelosha, hoping to
see the synagogue that Dad's Pa, and our Zaydie, the one and only Sam Harris
(the namesake of Sam Harris, our bass
playing son) gave the money to build years ago.
The kibbutz was established in 1950 by immigrants from South America,
and we did not really know what Zaydie's connection with the place was. But I (and probably all of you) had heard
Zaydie talk about this place, so we were eager to try and see what we
could. We had some info on it, supplied
by Mara, our cousin, and Alicia made some phone calls, and we did eventually
get a guy who said he could show us. We
were not sure what we would find, but off we went.
The synagogue was not only intact; it was fully in use,
beautifully maintained, and is used every Shabbat and every holiday. It is the only synagogue for some distance --
most kibbutzes of course don't have them, because they were secular, socialist
enterprises -- so people come from other kibbutzes to services there, as do religious
members of the IDF in the area. On top of the
shul, which you can see is part of the wall; it is directly across the top of
the entrance to the building. It reads,
"Beit Knesset Shmuel Mayer" - in other words, it is Synagogue or
Congregation Shmuel Mayer, named in Zaydie's honor. It was a truly wonderful and emotional moment
to see it -- it was not some cheesy plaque handing in a corner, out of the
way. The sanctuary is small and simple but beautiful, full of light-colored wood, perfectly clean
and maintained, with a beautiful ark containing three gorgeous Torahs. They are the Sephardic style Torahs, that
stay in the case and are read sitting up on the bimah podium. Really, it was breathtaking to see it and to
know it is very much a living, breathing place of worship, and that there will
be services there tonight. (I wish we
could have stayed for that, but alas.) Zaydie/Pa would be kvelling to the highest
degree, and rightly so. He has much to
be proud of, as his gift still provides a place for people from all over to
worship.
The man who took us around is named Shaul, and he takes care
of it the shul. He and his family
(including his 35? year old son, who was bar mitzvahed there) took us
around. They showed us an album, with a
picture of the son getting bar mitzvahed in that sanctuary, with Shaul standing
proudly with him. They were incredibly
happy to see us and to know who we were.
The son said, "it helps me to know you to close the circle, because
I have come here all of my life."
They then took us to lunch in the kibbutz collective dining room, where
we met his two daughters who live on the kibbutz too and who have seven kids
between them; the kids came running in for lunch while we were there. The son
is married and also lives on the Kibbutz.
They were very warm, wonderful people.
Alicia spoke to them in Hebrew, and I was able to throw in a little Spanish
to talk to Shaul; he is originally from Argentina.
The kibbutz sits 2.5
miles from the Gaza border; the individual buildings over the border were
clearly visible, and we could see Gaza City and Kahn Yunis as well. They have less than 15 seconds warning to get
into shelters when there is a rocket attack; in fact, it often happens that
they hear the rocket take off before the warning alarm. There is also one of the tunnels there -- its
opening is in one of their fields, half a kilometer from the kibbutz
fence. It is one of the few that was
preserved on the Israeli side -- they study it, politicians want to come and
have news conferences with it, etc.
There is so much more to talk about-- more pictures to follow!
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