Rav Siroka, Rabbi Raanan’s, right-hand man, organized the arrival of ten bochrim, whom Ahuva describes as “sweet,” and two chazzanim, the rest of the arrangements fell to the Amiels. “We brought the sefer Torah that my husband had commissioned for his parents to Kfar Menachem. We stored it in beautiful closet that we had brought from Arizona and I sewed a parochet from one of my elegant tablecloths. We built a mechitza from broomsticks. At the very last moment, one of the chazzanim, who had come with his wife and young child, mentioned that since we don’t have an eiruv, he wouldn’t be able to carry. A friend who lives close to the school dining hall, where the services were going to be held, agreed to come and sleep in my home, so I scrubbed and set up that apartment for the chazzan and his wife.” Reflecting on the enormous effort that they invested single-handedly, Ahuva says, “I was exhausted by the time the fast came in and I hardly had two minutes to eat, but I felt like a lion.” This month, after a year of effort, the Amiels received the news that the local council has approved the building of a shul and allotted a plot for it. “Now we have to fund it,” says Ahuva with excitement. “Once the shul is built, we plan to hold regular services here, not only on Yom Kippur.”
Facts and Figures
Over the last year Ayelet Hashachar has been involved in building shuls, renovating existing structures, and providing help, financial and otherwise, for the shuls that are mushrooming up in kibbutzim all over the country. While these kibbutzim are rich in Jewish history, they have yet to build on their Jewish identity. Says Rabbi Arieh Siroka, in one of the rare, travel-free moments that he can be found in his office, “Often kibbutz members are divided over whether to make a change in kibbutz doctrine and open a shul. In these cases, it’s unrealistic to expect financial help from the kibbutz itself. Petitions to the Ministry of Religion are processed extremely slowly. That’s where Ayelet Hashachar steps in.”
Rabbi Raanan and Rabbi Siroka share some facts and figures: Kibbutz members on Sde Nechemia, a large kibbutz in the Hula Valley in the western Galilee, who are interested in making life-style changes, have been holding services in a refurbished bomb shelter for the last few years. In April 2011, a breathtaking hachnasas Sefer Torah was held to bring in a Torah scroll donated by someone whom Rav Raanan had met two months previously. Kibbutz members danced with pure joy and shining faces; little children waved colorful paper flags in the center of the dancing circle; a kibbutz member with flowing jet-black hair sounded the shofar expertly. A Torah reading was held to which Rabbi Raanan specifically invited the women, reminding them that at Mount Sinai, the Torah was given to the women before it was given to the men. In a moving speech, a kibbutz member thanked Rabbi Raanan: “A shul needs chairs, tables, siddurim and chumashim, and a sefer Torah,” he said. “Thank you, Rav Raanan, for adopting us and helping us with it all.” As expected, things have progressed further. This year, with partial funding from the Ministry of Religion and much help from Ayelet Hashachar, a talented architect from the kibbutz has designed a round shul reminiscent of an amphitheater and construction has already begun.
Kibbutz Lehavot Habashan is situated on what became the Syria-Israel border after the Six Day War. Fittingly, located on the kibbutz is LVT – a fire protection equipment manufacturer that specializes in the development of fire protection and suppression systems for the military, industrial, and commercial sectors. With the help of Ayelet Hashachar, the kibbutz, which is aligned with the Shomer Hatzair movement, recently signed a contract to begin building a shul.
Kidmat Zvi, a kibbutz in the Golan Heights populated with a large percentage of teachers, has begun to plan a shul.
This August, members of Kibbutz Gevaram in central Israel began holding Shabbat services for the first time since the kibbutz was established 70 years ago. In the first week, fifteen men, including young boys and a 97-year old Holocaust survivor gathered in a bomb shelter to welcome the Shabbat Queen. After the third week, the group asked the kibbutz administration to allocate them a building to be used as a shul. With Ayelet Hashachar’s help, this building is now being renovated.
