You may know that
the Jews of York were expelled and massacred in 12th
Century (I think). Apparently at this time (my memory is dim and this is
why I cannot remember the source of this story) a ship bound from
presumably to avoid what he may have considered to be
a wasteful journey, put
the folk off the ship at low tide on the mud out from
the sea rose he refused them back aboard and they all drowned.
JUDAH Solomon left 10 children and a pregnant
wife in
The two were convicted of hiring burglars to steal goods that, oddly
enough, had already been stolen from someone else.
The Jewish community in their hometown of Sheerness must have felt a
twinge of pity at their unhappy exile because they sent the brothers a large
sum of money.
It enabled them to open a store in the main street of
The brothers prospered.
Unsurprisingly, Esther Solomon took unkindly to her husband’s
unfaithfulness. She moved into
Their marital battle escalated. Esther publicised
his infidelity around the town and undermined his attempts to gain an official
pardon, while he accused her of prostitution and gambling.
Judah decided to offer the garden of his grand mansion — which Esther
had usurped, but which he still legally owned — to the emerging Jewish
community and it was there that Hobart’s first synagogue was built.
Over its long history, Hobart Hebrew Congregation has both blossomed
and withered. A census in 1842 revealed some 259 Jews living in
Most were convicts or emancipists, many of whom opened small stores and
scraped together a meagre living.
But in 1847, two years after
In the 2001 census, only 163 Tasmanians identified themselves as
Jewish, and the Hobart Hebrew Congregation numbered no more than 70.
There was a brief resurgence when a handful of European refugees
migrated after World War II, and later as South African Jews trickled in and
out during waves of migration to
But the present congregation’s defining chapter came in 1994. In a
distant echo of the Solomons’ marital feud, which had
delivered Hobart’s Jews with a synagogue almost 150 years earlier, another row
erupted which would again have positive results for the community.
During the late 1980s Lubavitch Jews in
However, many Jews in the
By the early 1990s, there were more Progressive
than Orthodox Jews in
That started a bitter debate that embroiled the Council for Orthodox
Synagogues in Victoria and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, and
almost made its way to the Tasmanian Supreme Court.
A group of Orthodox Jews took out an
But unlike Esther and Judah Solomon, this time the battling parties
reached a compromise and agreed to share the shul.
Hobart Hebrew Congregation president Caroline Heard told the AJN: “Over
the past four or five years we’ve come to a very nice, comfortable
understanding.
“For Rosh Hashanah, the Progressives have their service between nine
and 11 in the morning, and then the Orthodox come in at
The Progressives have one Friday and two Saturday services a month,
they help out the Orthodox with minyans occasionally,
and both congregations join together for social and non-religious functions —
they have a joint kiddush every month and they come
together to celebrate simchas.
And so it has been ever since — two congregations,
Orthodox and Progressive, sharing
“ We’re all happy and
everyone’s respectful of each other. That’s the optimum, you can’t ask for
more,” Heard said. “We can all exist under the same roof.”
CAROLINE Heard moved to
From the street she saw its symmetrical, grand stone facade sloping
backwards like a modern pyramid from behind a dark iron fence. She passed
between the tall carved pillars that stand before its two front doors like
bodyguards.
As Heard wandered inside, she walked past polished pews and little
wooden benches originally used by convict Jews (who in the shul’s
early days were granted permission by the governor to pray).
She climbed the winding wooden staircase to the women’s mezzanine, from
where she looked down on the tiny synagogue’s interior — its antique lights
dangling above a carpeted bimah and a plaque on the
wall dedicated to the memory of Judah Solomon, who, it read, had “handsomely
contributed towards the building”.
Shortly after, Heard was on the board. “It’s like a family that I don’t
have anywhere else,” she said. “There’s a wonderful sense of belonging here.
The people are so welcoming and they’re really more like an extended family.”
Heard has now been the shul’s president for
more than five years. Her fellow congregants describe her as a blessing to the
community.
She compiles a regular newsletter, is active with several national
Jewish organisations and has delicately helped smooth
out the congregation’s differences.
She has lobbied the local Coles supermarket to stock kosher food, and
although she is Progressive herself, she often helps with Orthodox simchas.
The synagogue has only 32 financial members, she lamented. It can’t
afford a rabbi and they rarely have the numbers for an Orthodox minyan. But in spite of this, the entire congregation has
overcome its differences and is now experiencing a mini-renaissance in Jewish
life.
THE Hobart Hebrew Congregation is a very special one, according to Yossi Gordon, the
As in Heard’s case, he said that most people
who have gone to live in
“There’s something very special there that brings out Yiddishkeit in many people who previously didn’t have it,”
said Rabbi Gordon.
“There would be close to 100 people around the world who have observed
the first Shabbat of their life in
Much of this enthusiasm is derived from David and Penina
Clark. Their house is at the core of
They recently bought a double bunk so they could accommodate more
visitors. Their house has become popular as a haven for Jewish travellers and many young Israelis come to stay with them —
they have hosted more than 40 guests in the past three months.
“When another Jew arrives in
“Their hospitality is literally like Avraham Avinu. There are people coming and going from their house
all the time and they are literally the centre of Yiddishkeit
in
Indeed, the
On Saturday mornings when they’re not at shul
they hold improvised services in their house. They have an Aron
kodesh (holy ark) and a Torah in their dining room
and a library containing several hundred Jewish books.
Their home is kosher to the highest standards, despite the absence of
kosher shops, and they host simchas for both the
Orthodox and Progressive congregations.
Pnina teaches cheder classes at their house and she and David perform the
duties of a chevra kadisha,
preparing Jewish bodies for burial.
“The first few deaths were a learning experience, but we just do the
best we can now,” said David Clark.
He is, to some extent, accustomed to unpleasant duties. In 2002, when
Each day he piled bones of Hobart Jewry’s founding fathers into the
boot of his car and drove them to their new resting place.
There are many fascinating stories that surround the
The scroll is thought to have originated from
With so many chapters in its history one wonders what the future holds
for Hobart Hebrew Congregation.
“Only God knows,” said Rabbi Gordon. “But as long as there are people
like David and Penina and Caroline there, Yiddishkeit will thrive.
“Sure, the people there are not big davveners.
But to me that’s not very significant. Their success is not through davvening. It’s through the communal meals, the
discussions, the shiurim, the Shabbat services, and
the observance of mitzvahs... many people could learn a lot from the
congregation down there.”