We are in between two awesome Jewish holidays. The first one, Rosh Hashanah (New Year), began last Sunday evening, Sept. 16, with a festive meal featuring apples dipped in honey to start the year off on a sweet note.
One of the highlights of this inspiring holiday, which lasted until Tuesday evening, is a unique musical instrument called the shofar (ram's horn), that calls us to be all we can be with powerful, moose-like blasts.
The next holiday, Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), will begin this Tuesday night, Sept. 25 at 6: 46 p.m. This spiritually uplifting 25-hour fast day lasts until Wednesday at 7: 48 p.m. Every year, the timing changes depending on the cycles of the moon and the sun, but some things never change.
Many of the first Jews to arrive in Victoria in 1858 from San Francisco by sailing ship were traditional families from Poland who prayed daily. Others, especially those originally from Germany, were more lenient in their religious observance. Yet no matter what their level of practice, on these two holidays in particular, everyone managed to transcend their differences in order to celebrate and pray together.
Whether in 1858 or today, if you are Jewish and only go to synagogue once or twice a year, now is the time to go. Back then, they had no synagogue, so they met in a private home on Johnson Street.
The next year, 1859, they got organized and formed the Hebrew Benevolent Society. You've probably heard of the Chinese Benevolent Society. We had one, too. With no other social assistance available, if you wanted to help people, you had to do it yourself.
The Benevolent Society, all men at that time, held a fundraising party and raised enough to rent the second storey of a shop downtown for their High Holiday services.
By 1862, they had managed to achieve enough unity to form Congregation Emanu-El (which means God is with us), and purchased land at Pandora and Blanshard.
The actual construction of the synagogue didn't begin until after the cornerstones were laid following a grand parade on June 2, 1863. At the parade, the Freemasons, the German Society, the French Choral Society, St. Andrews Church, a military band and various government officials joined the Jewish community in celebration.
There were many fine words uttered at the event, my favourite being a line from the synagogue's vice-president, Mr. Hoffman, who said that "... as this stone which we are about to lay will be the foundation upon which this structure will rest, so may peace and harmony be the foundation stone of your hearts."
On Sept. 13, 3 1/2 months later, the building was consecrated, in time for High Holiday services. In November, the building was considered officially complete.
There were only 35 members at the time (only the men were counted), yet the subscription list for the construction of the building shows more than 200 names. The entire community and beyond contributed. Now that's something to celebrate!
The community celebrated with another grand parade after the synagogue's restoration 119 years later on June 6, 1982. In addition to descendants of the original participants, representatives of the Chinese and First Nations communities made this a much more inclusive ceremony. We hope to repeat the event with even more gusto on June 2, 2013, when another grand parade will celebrate the synagogue's 150th anniversary.
Shoshana Litman of Victoria is an ordained Maggidah, a Jewish storyteller, teacher and writer. For more information, go to maggidah.com.
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