A Small Miracle in a Time of Darkness
On the weekend of October 20th, 2023, David Ovadia, President of the Karaite Jews of America, had scheduled an important event at the community’s San Francisco Bay Area synagogue, B’nai Israel, the only Karaite synagogue in the United States. The event was expected to attract participants from across the U.S. and abroad to help dedicate a new Torah scribed in Israel over the prior two years.
This video documents the small miracle that took place that weekend, allowing the proceedings to unfold at a moment of unimaginable turmoil. And it records for posterity some of the unique aspects of the community’s millennium-long heritage rooted in Egypt.
The Torah Dedication Weekend almost didn’t happen. Hamas had invaded Israel on October 7th and war broke out. The Torah scroll was in the Bay Area, but David’s counterpart in Israel, Eli Eltachan, agreed we must proceed, whether he and his team, Avi Yefet and Maor Dabah, participated in person or remotely.
It was a small miracle that they were able to book the last three seats on a connecting flight from Tel Aviv to San Francisco on October 17th. And Samy Ibrahim, David’s partner in our efforts to preserve the Karaite Jewish heritage in Egypt, overcame almost insurmountable obstacles to fly in from Cairo.
This video portrays the highlights of what happened next, as members of the community came together to pray, learn, sing, and give voice to one thought, the importance of being together, despite the tragic circumstances unfolding in Israel and Gaza. And so, the community was able to dedicate the new Torah, learn from each other, and pray for peace.
We mourned those lost, and together we looked to the future. That is what the Jewish people have always done, and it is what we must continue to do.
17 окт 2024
