As the Jewish New Year approaches, I am reminded about the profound experience I had while in Bolivia a couple of weeks back. While in Santa Cruz, staying with friends of my father, my mother and I took a brief walk, and across the street a building caught my eye with a familiar shape:
Intrigued, we tried to find a sign somewhere on the exterior of the building that would indicate that this was either a synagogue, or some other Jewish community center. Finding nothing, we took a peek through the crack in the door and sure enough we find our answer:
How ironic that we find a Jewish place of worship literally a stone’s throw away from where we were staying in a predominately Catholic, South American country. We rang the bell and spoke to the director of the synagogue, who explained to us that this congregation consists of approximately 70 families, many of whom are converted. They have Friday night services and Jewish activities for kids on Saturdays and meetings on Wednesdays. He invited us to return on Friday to join them for services, which we did.
Unfortunately, due to the Sabbath, I was not able to photograph the interior of the grounds or the sanctuary, which was, although small, modern and beautiful in its own right. Before the service, we met several of the congregants, who happened to be Israeli and spoke fluent Spanish and Hebrew. Surprisingly, NO ONE in Bolivia speaks any English, so I was completely reliant on my mother to translate for me. So here I am in a Synagogue in Bolivia, where the congregants are talking to us in both Spanish and Hebrew, and I am completely in the dark. I guess my 3 years of high school Spanish and 12 years of Hebrew did nothing to prepare me for this trip, as I felt like a complete idiot because I spoke only English.
Amazingly, during the actual service, I was able to feel a surprising sense of belonging as the familiar tune of the prayers and psalms filled the sanctuary. They weren’t exactly the same melodies, but they were very close. But a dose of reality hit me, however, when the responsive reading came into play… On the right-facing page of the prayer book is the prayer or psalm in Hebrew, while on the left-facing page, it is written in Spanish. Hearing and seeing it in Spanish was something very strange indeed- an experience I will never forget.
Something to think about for the New Year… All around the world, in places you would never expect, there are Jews who will be celebrating as a people, as a collective entity brought together by a common thread. Happy 5769th New Year!
Shamir Merino