Left: Inside Musmeah Yeshua

synagogue, Yangon, Burma.

Eight Jewish
families keep the
legacy alive.

Jews in Burma:

Ben G. Frank

Special to the Jewish News

C

all me old-fashioned, call me a

romantic, but every time I think
of Burma (now called Myanmar),
I start humming Kipling's imperial British
poem:
"On the road to Mandalay,
Where the flyin'-fishes play,
An' the dawn comes up like thunder
outer China 'crost the Bay!"
The British are long gone, and the Jews
are pretty much gone — all, that is, except
a remnant. But it is the remaining Jews in
Burma that are keeping a wonderful legacy
alive. Miraculously, the synagogue, Musmeah
Yeshua Synagogue, at 85 26th St. in Yangon
(Rangoon), is open every day.
Yes, exotic Burma was once again in the
news as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton recently completed a whirlwind
tour of the country. She announced that
the U.S. would loosen some restrictions
on international financial assistance and
development programs in response to the
country's recent political and economic
reforms now taking place after a half-cen-
tury of repression by a military junta.
And with the reforms, more tour-
ists, including Jewish travelers from the
U.S., are visiting this "land of the golden
pagodas" as well as the synagogue, and
meeting with the few Jews (eight Jewish
families in the whole country), most of
them in Yangon. Visitors are intrigued
by the nation that straddles the Asian
highway connecting China and India with
Southeast Asia and flock here because
little has changed since British colonial
times more than half a century ago. The
pagodas, the majestic rivers and the
friendly people captivate tourists.
Near the synagogue, for instance, is the
Sule Pagoda and further on is the famous

28

January 12 % 2012

"We are still here!"

Shwedagon pagoda, the breathtaking mon-
ument that amazes travelers as they walk
clockwise around the stupa. This enormous
gold-plated pagoda, the holiest Buddhist
shrine in Burma, is indeed the chief place
of pilgrimage in the Buddhist world.
Musmeah Yeshua remains open thanks
to one "just man:' Than Lwin. Jews know
him as Moses Samuels, the man who
carries the load of Jewish history on
his shoulders. Every day he walks a few
blocks from his home to open the doors
of the synagogue and keep Judaism alive
in Burma. He tends to its needs, raises
money and supervises repairs.
Usually, no one shows up for a minyan.
But when a group of Americans, Israelis
or Australian Jews arrives during the
tourist season, Moses frantically calls the
few Jews in the city to come quickly to
the synagogue and meet the guests in the
building, one of 188 sites on the list of
Yangon Heritage Buildings.
The synagogue was built in 1854 and
rebuilt in stone in 1896. The commu-
nity maintains a cemetery whose oldest
tomb dates back to 1876. The interior of
Musmeah Yeshua stands similar in style
to the grand Magen David synagogue in
Kolkata (Calcutta), India, with its soaring
ceiling, memorial lamps suspended in mid-
air and pale beams over a central carved
bimah located in the center of the prayer
hall, surrounded by benches for the wor-
shipers. Above them is a women's gallery.
"Our family is still here says 60-year-
old Moses, who opened the synagogue
for me, as he would for any visitor. Born
in Burma, his parents were from Iraq.
Together with his son, Sammy, a gradu-
ate of Yeshiva University in New York City
who now lives in New York, Moses runs
Myanmar Shalom Travels & Tours Co. Ltd.
Sammy, whose name in Burmese is
Aung Soe Lwin, graduated with high hon-

ors from Yeshiva University. Moses and
wife Nellie's daughters, Kuzna and Dinah,
returned to Burma after their studies in
the U.S. When Sammy is in town, he con-
ducts the services as Moses does not read
Hebrew.
For the intrepid traveler, it is always a
thrill to come across an object that kindles
mental images of America, thousands of
miles away. In the synagogue, I chanced
to come upon a stack of Haggadahs. The
books recalled my childhood days, for
emblazoned on the covers were the words:
"Produced by Maxwell House Coffee —
Good to the Last Drop. Kosher for Passover."
Once, 1,500 to 2,000 Jews called
Burma home. The first Jew in Burma was
Solomon Gabirol, who served as a com-
missar in the army of King Alaungpaya
(1752-60). In the mid-19th century, David
Sassoon and his co-religionists known
as Baghdadis arrived in India and the
Far East, including Burma, and brought
investments and connections of an exten-
sive trading network.

The front of the Musmeah Yeshua

synagogue in Yangon, Burma

Life for Jews would be pleasant until those
tranquil days ended with the Japanese inva-
sion in 1941, and thousands of Burmese and
Jews fled to India. The community never
recovered, even though Judaism enjoyed a
"brief flowering" after Israel's independence
in 1948 and the establishment of cordial
Israeli-Burmese relations, which also exist
today. The Jews departed after the military
takeover in 1962, leaving only several dozen
by the 1980s.
Exiting the synagogue, I noticed that
above the gate on the inside wall was a
Jewish star and the Hebrew word, Shalom.
Despite the fact that only a few Burmese
Jews remain in Burma, that only a few
Israelis work in their embassy in Yangon,
that groups of Jewish travelers only occa-
sionally show up here from November
through April, this small number of Jews
conveys the message to the world: "We are
still here!"

❑

Ben G. Frank, journalist and travel writer, is the

author of the just-published, "The Scattered
Tribe: Traveling the Diaspora from Cuba to India

to Tahiti & Beyond" (Globe Pequot Press). He
spoke about "The Scattered Tribe" at the recent
60th annual Jewish Book Fair at the Jewish

Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit.

A view of the synagogue, Musmeah
Yeshua, overlooking the market in

Yangon. The synagogue is the blue and
white building on the top right.

The breathtaking Shwedagon Pagoda,
the holiest Buddhist shrine in Burma

