History Lessons

April 11, 2002-Great Stuff

We were able to go on the tour of the Great Synagogue at noon today. The Byzantine cum Gothic, cum Victorian structure is as imposing as its name. Officially called Beth Israel, it wears the title of “great” with dignity. The interior of the sanctuary is painted a pale creamy yellow with ornate ecru details. The vaulted ceiling & dome are a rich blue & golden stars simulate the night sky. Established 125 years ago, it follows the Anglo-English orthodox traditions. Men & women sit separately & the choir, although mixed from the time of its establishment until 1972, is now all male. Rabbi Apple who is still the rabbi there, made that change in the choir a condition of his employment. It was interesting to note that the Torah (Five books of Moses) portion posted on the pulpit & to be read this week was our daughter Wendys when she became a bat mitzvah (daughter of the commandments) at age thirteen. I:s Leviticus 12, & deals with menstrual cycles & leprosy. Nice stuff.

The ark where the Torah is kept usually faces Jerusalem. We in the West are accustomed to it facing East. Here it faces west since that’s a closer route from this part of the world. A wonderful movie & light show gave us a history of Jews in Australia & a brief explanation of some of the symbols & customs. There were a few Jews in the first transport of prisoners in 1788 & by 1820 there were enough Jewish free settlers to establish a congregation. The government refused to grant them land as they did the churches, so it was a few more years until pressure could be brought & land made available. Now there are twenty-six synagogues in Sydney & the Great Synagogue has 900 family units as members. There have been two Jewish Governors General appointed by the monarchs at the recommendation of the Prime Minister, & the Jewish population of Australia has stayed at ½ of 1% of the total since the first white settlement. That’s the same proportion of the Jewish population worldwide.

Rocky

We hustled our way through lunch crowds to get down to the Rocks area, an historic section of first settlement that’s been preserved and now incorporates shops, restaurants, hotels, and living quarters. As I looked at the press of young workers I felt very grateful they were toiling so hard to keep the world running so we could enjoy it.

Our afternoon was spent on a walking tour of the Rocks. When Governor Macquarie arrived in the settlement in the early 1800’s, he set about cleaning up gambling, prostitution, & excessive intoxication. David said he was happy to see it was all under control now. Prostitution is legalized in official brothels, gambling casinos are flourishing, & there’s a pub on every corner. Threatened with destruction so that high rises could be built, the construction guilds fought to save this historic area. It was more a class issue than a move to preserve tradition. The area was a lower & middle class neighborhood & the guilds didn’t want to see their class of people displaced in favor of the affluent.

We caught a taxi out to the Holiday Inn at the airport. Our flight for India by way of Hong Kong leaves at 7:45 AM tomorrow so we’ll have to get to the airport at 5:30 AM. We’ll be early to bed tonight for sure. We started taking Malarone, an anti-malarial drug, this morning in preparation. We have to take it for a week after we leave areas with a malaria problem. That would be after Africa.

Toby