Indonesia
The Jewish Remnant in Sourabaya,
1,411
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I., mt. v...v
Hatibi I meritus
Jeshurion, Nen lurk
• oz.
Now ite.iding in Jerusalem
r
rue to ideir
Ile! ,
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
22 — Friday, July 7, 1972
Sli•r•r
tt_tittlath I-i•a•l Rabbi
l:redit
PriNatt. Schools
• , rliK LIT
'
a I-
liv
..
ileizi
d m
-tee ,
t.
tal...lor,;a.
d
their
VII
ref .T2i•e,
.
the
.sere
fors
.11
oii , c.
-•
seh• .1
.1.•A
r. I
\lost of the .1i. re
in shrill litisine•—• eider
in prospc.re-'
W. :11 the estaidishment of an in
.h.pori lent self gto.erning Indenesia
1111 a pred•mmantly Muslim vomi-
m
ter.
*r - u - hak lie courted a
• 7
im•rtant
1
I101-1-,le A
His wife was
.1 inlay-• n who had
• ',•! I tinder the super
( ., 1,1,
the (orthodox rabbi in
Their . childree were
the deuish tra iition It
III
to •Ch111..4 eXperle711 I . for me
with then and their mother
- lecha
Shim.; Mt'
alai the
It was a kind
- kultish
of Irs mg frt . :cite to their late father
tray
e 'in :
do a - dto, yen oaldi
Tw.• men in them eiol.11e
seised as my guides They related
to na• the downhill trend of the
CI1II11111.1IIY
the recent
deaths of Mr. Mussry and of Mr
Sayers. the last man who knew
how to conduct the Hebrew pray-
ers with dignity. the community
lost the last of the members who
knew how to read the prayers in
Hebrew with some dignity. They
appealed to me to supply them
with a book of Hebrew prayers in
Latin characters, if such exists,
so that they might lean nut the
prayers a! least in the Hebrew
"Po sj nit-am:tie of
the
COMPIll'
I identified him a. the son of the
late Habtm Nlarcus Ehrenpreis, one
of the distinguished tin ish persm.
of his time. chief rablii of
and one of the founders
of thy World Jewish Congres.. A
further :mach into the scattered
records resealed a cant in which
the late Mr Ehrenpreis had noted
that he had participated in the
World Jewish Congress Plenary
Assembly of 1922 in Stockholm I
.widen.
mentioned to my hosts that I must
ha, e 'net him on that occasian
nets, ere-ted in 1946. is a wooden
I stated the meeting of the small
dignified proportions
oath
accommodations for about. remnant of the Jews of Sourabaya
by
a
- maariv - prayer service,
,200. and has in addition to the
feeling that they might appreciate
house of worship. a room w
to them, alas,
former years was used hich
as a in
a what
rare was
opportunity.
My nowadays,
judgment
library. a school room and a social was fully sindic.Med
zoom In the closet were stored.
Then the Ilebrew hooks in the
aormg a miscellaneous disarray of
st
aeture of
70. 000 new imrnigrcinTS
are
In
Jewksh
expected to cO- rive
IS1, 3ei Ir1 1972.
icy costs
sev-vice‘3 have incveo5e3
f rom t 79, 575,00007
to $ 81 - ,395 238.
•
f
i A r
41
3,* Af
Anal it 1%6
I
:111
y
•
i.
•
•
1,14.1
t:Op n. the deuish
11 n l t %-
sin tidied
1-h•
Bali. recently. I hoarded
a plane to Stiarahaya. a distanc-
..1 •-• •, oral hundred miles. in search
brethren. The only clue I
•
-.is an article which appeare
dertPalern Post by its editor,
1.•i It Lurie. who wrote that while.
•-•lint an international confer-
of join- n:111.1s there. he saw
sounds
Os.
, lnagn,:11C
and paid a con
.cy call to the family of Da% id
I asked to meet with the entire
whose untimely passim; a Jewish community of Sourabaya
, !ass earlier had mole as a The meeting was held at the home
to the Jew oh community of Mrs. Mussry. About eight men
Jewish remnant in Soora- and six women showed up. They
• clambers• hardly a minyan of speak Dutch and English, in addl-
es Their testier was the late tion to the local tongue.
d Mussry whose famils stems
Before the meeting. Mrs. Mussry
foie, Baghdad and whose kin are
located some former records of
• . t ..red in Jakarta. Singapore
members of the JeWish communi-
• I os Anoeles
ty one name which caught my eye
t 'slit the tone of his premature
u as that of a Mr. Ehrenpreis, nm
•I• aih a few in "nth. ago at
longer alive, who had been an co-
52
Diesel Nliissr ■ .
was the tive member of the community 25
moo letacol header of this small
years ago and helped egtatilish
•
r"
.1
self as owed Zionist
the religious school When' I was
5% •
1",1 , keel for its Zionism.
told that he was the son of a rabbi
.
•-
.-a,•1 that
...dm
1,1
i
r . i
1 1 11 . 1r1
is/
"
155 I \
S
pc of
•,•••
tare
. .11 . 11
is ahead through Youth Al,•
I asked t!'.1•111 If) 01.1 at least one
'Milo fur me immediately, namely
to reconstruct to the best of their
abi•ity, the record of the Jewish
, OrInitinity
of Sourabaya. and to
send it to me in Jerusalem, where
It would be deposited in appropri-
ate archive , . I urged them to re-
construct this story. not only from
ritten records, but also from
taped, oral interviews with the
oldest members of their communi-
ty, who should be encouraged to
reminisce out loud
There was a visit to the grace
of Mr. Sayers. who had died a few
weeks before Not only his own
family. but all the families turned
out It was a very cohesive little
community. I joined them,
Thus I was able to see the Jew-
ish cemetery. This Jewish burial
ground. adjoining the general
h•rial grounds, was acquired some
30 years ago. The then Dutch gov-
ernor offered it as a grant, but
the spokesman of the Jewish com-
munity insisted on paying, so it
was acquired for the price of one
guilder.
Jewish
There
are :lomat 70
graves.
including
those of six
suicides ‘511. were buried on the
outside of the main portion of the
cemetery. though within the Jew
ish premises. Most of the marble
;aides on the monuments had been
%and:di:ed. Si, there are some
tombstones without names
simi-
larl y . the - taharah - house was in
Ile
to
la;' .
Moshe
of
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1111111MUMUNIIMUNUUNIIIIIIIIMMIll
SUMMER
CLEARANCE
SALE
home of the deceased. Adjoin-
ing the Jewish cemetery is the
general crematory. Upon inquiry.
I learned that only one Jess' had
left a request that his body be
cremated. Ills ashes were sent to
his relati%es in Austria.
groups of:
REDUCED
HALTER DRESSES
UP TO
'/2 off
LONG SKIRTS
- TOPS
AND MORE
SWIM WEAR
We returned the synagogue, and
a few asked me what would hap- '
pen with the Scrolls of the Torah
if the Jewish community were to
Mave.
The reply was obvious:
- Bring them to Israel and give
them to the ministry of religion."
A more difficult question was
that pertaining to the synagogue
building itself. My advice was that
if, when and as the time would
come when there would be no
further use for it. it should be sold
and the proceeds used to build a
synagogue in Israel for a commu-
nity with lkhich they would feel
a sense of kinship.
SHIFTLESS
probably true that hard work
is a tonic —hut a great many peo-
pie never get sick enough to try
the medicine. --Barry Goldwater .
INonyber [Noma
1(e.... Mow
DaalArrs •svoc.txon
FREE DELIVERY • EL 6-5110-1
S
the
On leaving the cemetery, the cus-
tom of Nashing the hands was ob-
-.cried They also observed another
to me. strange custom, that of stop-
ping off at non-Jewish premises -
before returning to their own
homes
M LTER
RIG
KOSHER MEATS & POULTRY, INC.
as a result of vandalism.
so the 'la harah" is n e w, done in
At the graveside of Mr. Sayers,
the Hebrew prayers were read by
an old man past SO. a pathetic
petit irtnance by the one remain-
ing Jew who was able to read He-
hrew. but was unsuited to lead a
dignified service in the synagogue.
Critics of the plan, who include
?loth-Orthodox Jewish leaders, call
it an illegal attempt to skirt the
constitutiona,Aoparation of'ehureh
and state.
!
in
,,• mio; • oairman
..f for Education
1 a s. • (A:EDIT
with
hay.;
special counsel
to thc Pre-Meet. and later praised
a miter crylorsiri2, such legislation
sent by Caspar W.
Weinberger,
director of the Office of Manage-
ment and Budget. to Rep. Wilbur
D Mills ID. Ark h chairman of
the House Ways and Means Com-
mittee. -
CREDIT claims to represent
5,000.000 children of all faiths.
Rabbi Sherer said that under
CREDIT's plan. parents of non- I
public-school children would re- .
ceive $400 in income tax credit
per year per child. Parents of ,
pupils in elementary and secon- ,
dary Jewish day schools would et !
M111111111111111PMMIIIIIIMIll
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