Yom Kippur Down Under

September 26, 2001-The Fair Pacific

I keep talking about going across the street to the shopping mall, but I don’t think I’ve ever described it. It’s called Pacific Fair. It’s part two-story modern enclosed mall and part village-style shopping. There are the usual department store anchors plus privately owned stores of every kind. They have two shoe repair shops, six beauty salons, a private butcher and separate green grocer as well as a full supermarket. There are a few food courts, separate restaurants, cafes, and a 12-screen cinema. Ponds decorate the center along with a supervised kiddie playland where parents can leave their children while they shop. The village shops are all along pedestrian streets and lanes. It gives the impression of being in an old time downtown. You can do your banking, see the doctor, and collect the government payment of your medical bills right at Pacific Fair. Of course there are banks, an auto repair shop, a bus depot, and taxi stand. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen anywhere. There have to be hundreds of stores.

We went to Pacific Fair again today to pick up our yom tov challah. We'd ordered it, but it wasn’t ready. They offered us a long braided challah bread instead. We told them it was the special round holiday loaf we needed. You’d think that at Goldstein’s Bakery they’d know. They called all around and a challah was located. Mrs. Goldstein was contacted on her mobile phone and agreed to drop it off. This is a big operation. I think there are 10 stores on Gold Coast with three at Pacific Fair alone. Poor Mrs. Goldstein. She was so apologetic. Of all orders to screw up, the rabbi’s wasn’t the one she would have chosen. What she said to us was, “It seems that we’ve mucked you around today, haven’t we?” We agreed that things had gotten mucked up and that mucking around wasn't what we needed to be doing while we were getting ready for Yom Kippur. She gave us the sweet (defined as plain) challah we'd ordered and a bonus fruit challah (one with raisins). Both were gratis.

As we walked home through the mall, we saw two women walking towards us holding hands. In Europe, women frequently walk around arm in arm, but it’s an unusual sight here. I don’t know where the gay/lesbian/bi/trans community is, but it has been invisible. If we weren’t rushing home, I would have stopped them to chat. I probably would have scared them before they figured out we were friends. We need to do some GLBT searching after the holidays.

More To Tell

Another service, erev Yom Kippur, and another story. I met a woman named from Hungary. She’d lived in Budapest until the revolution in the late 50’s. She and her husband fled to New Zealand. They wanted to get as far away from Europe as they could. They later brought her parents to New Zealand.

They needed to earn a living, so they opened a restaurant. Salad bars were just becoming popular, but the Kiwis weren’t ready for “lite” cuisine. After throwing leftover greens away each evening, she decided to take action. She went to a small but successful restaurant and appropriated one of their menus. They copied the offerings and re-opened with hearty foods like fish and chips, meat pies, and bangers and mash. They were a hit.

I was excited to hear they’d been married at the Doheny Synagogue in Budapest. We'd visited it when we went on the tour of Eastern Europe with members of the Akron congregation. It was being restored to its former glory then. It re-opened for Rosh Hashanah that year. We'd learned that two of the major donors for the restoration were Tony Curtis and the Gabor sisters. Anyway, the day after her wedding, her husband, who was in the army, was called up. She was a political activist against the Communists and went into hiding for two years. She hid in a basement on the street where the synagogue is. I’m sure we walked right past that house.

How did she come to be in Gold Coast? She and her husband used to vacation here. Before he died two years ago, he told her he thought she would be happier here so she came.

David managed to get his sermon up to 15-17 minutes tonight. His theme was Alchet Shechatanu L’fanecha. It means, “For the sins we have sinned against You.” He concentrated on the sin of omission and confessed to not paying enough attention to the terrorism that had been going on for years because it didn’t directly affect him. He quoted the statement attributed to Martin Niemoller, a Protestant minister, who said that, “First they came for the Communists. I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.” The entire text is on line under Niemoller’s name. It was a strong statement. He ended by saying that when they come for us, he hopes someone will be left to speak up for us.

September 27, 2001-Deadly Silence

Once again a woman didn’t come to services today because she didn’t want to ask for time off work. The irony is that she works for Goldstein’s Bakery. This woman and her family are extremely active at the temple and she isn’t a shy, retiring person. Strange.

David’s sermon (11 minutes) this morning was one familiar to you all. It was his definition of Judaism. It was safe, he was eloquent, and it was well received.

With no choir or instrumental music morning services were only two hours long ending at noon. Afternoon readings start immediately after a brief break. There’s no special service for young folks. Yizkor (memorial service) started at 4:30.

David warned me that during yizkor they read all the names of the deceased. I thought it was as we do and they read all the names of those who died during the last liturgical year. Wrong! They don’t have a memorial booklet that lists the names. They read the names of everyone who has died who was a member or relative of a member of the congregation for the entire history of the congregation. It’s a good thing there’s a small membership. They are aware that some congregations print memory books and even use it as a fundraiser. Evidently they like to hear the names. How long does this take, you ask? I timed it. It took 11 minutes. It reminded me of the reading of the names for the AIDS quilt. Actually, it’s vice-versa. Whenever I’ve heard the names read when the quilt was displayed, I’ve thought of our kaddish (memorial) lists.

Under the circumstances, I found my mind wandering as we read the list of sins that we might have committed during the past year. I must confess, I’m not without wanting revenge. I wonder how I can ask for forgiveness for a sin and know that those feelings are in my heart right now? It’s a dilemma I haven’t begun dealing with. It was exacerbated by a radio broadcast we heard as we were getting dressed this morning. There’s a lot of airtime here given to the Muslim view and sympathy for their cause. I don’t know if it’s increased since the mosque was burned in Brisbane or if it was always this way. I do have to remind myself that Australia is basically British, and the British have favored the Arab side of things. Even though the majority of the Muslim population here doesn’t endorse the events of Sept. 11, I wonder how many of these upstanding Muslims silently cheered with each terrorist act that led up to it? I wonder if the militants perceived silence as an endorsement of those acts? Their leaders and the Muslim world population at large were silent until now. Could they have come forward to prevent the atrocities that lead up to Sept. 11? Could the Germans have intervened in the events that lead to the Holocaust? The risk of confronting the Nazi regime was far more dangerous for the German people than similar risks would be to the Muslims living outside the control of the Arab fanatics. How many of them secretly gave money to support those organizations that masterminded the events of Sept. 11? These questions go back to David’s sermon of last night. None are blameless. It bothers me that the Muslims living in the Diaspora are being cast as sympathetic victims. They are to blame. We are to blame. The guilt of silence is universal. Truly, in this case silence=death. What sort of treatment is being given to the Muslim population at home?

At the break fast, I sat next to a delightful woman from Nice, France. She happened to mention an article in the paper today about the Imam in Brisbane. It was very sympathetic to him. He was quoted as saying that with the devastation that took place at the Twin Towers it's hard to tell who really committed the crime. He said it probably was not the Palestinians or bin Laden’s group, but that it was more likely “the others” who want to drive a wedge between Christians and Muslims. Guess who “the others” are? Somehow they’re trying to blame it on the Jews…again. What’s scary is that with Bush trying to build a coalition of Arab states to support the U.S. anti-terrorist response, it looks as if Israel will be odd man out…again. A lot of pressure will be brought to bear on them at the negotiation table.

I have just confessed my sins for last year and am building new ones for next. My thoughts at this time are far from peace and charity. I’m so glad that Bush is able to use the coalition building skills that got him elected. The nation and he never dreamed who his building buddies would be.

It was a hard fast for both of us. I don’t know why. I woke up hungry this morning. Usually I can get a couple of hours without hunger pangs. Well, it’s over. I think this really was David’s last time doing High Holiday services.

Toby