Last Shabbes and Cool Torah (10pm Saturday July 30, 2011)

10pm Saturday July 30, 2011

On Friday we were finally able to open up the Aron Kodesh (Holy Ark), as the key to the lock had been lost and we  just decided to break the lock.  I found two Torah scrolls in addition to Juan’s 1870 Lithuanian family Torah Scroll. At first I was confused because it didn’t make sense for the Huanuco community to have three Torah scrolls. I picked one up and placed it on the bima, taking it out of its casing. As I looked at the Torah with a grin, Juan explained to me that this was a complete photocopied Torah. As I rolled it to the portion that Rolo will read for his Bar Mitzvah, Juan told me that he had spent a whole night several months ago with his Kosher Torah scroll at a friends house. He made two full size reproductions on large white paper and taped them together so they look just like a Torah; they even have Etz Haims (the two wooden pieces that hold the parchment.)  The reason for the photocopy was so that the community could become familiar with a Torah scroll that wasn’t his personal family heirloom.

(photo)

My last Shabbes with the community before I head to South Peru for 2 weeks was helpful for comparative purposes.  A random 30 year old non-Jew man from Lima who is potentially interested in converting happened to be in Huanuco for Shabbes, and came over for services. I saw that the let’s-tell-dirty-jokes-Friday-night thing isn’t just limited to Huanuco.  This guy from Lima was tearing the audience apart with his jokes at the Friday night table. As usual, I tried to laugh in order to seem polite, but he caught on and out of nowhere decided to tell an English joke he had once heard about G. W. Bush and Moses, because he felt bad that I wasn’t catching onto the Peruvian humor.  His joke was cute: I smiled and then explained that I’m a tough audience in any language.

Saturday also was a first for me–my first Christian wedding (it’s a mitzvah to m’sameakh chatan v’kala, right?). I decided I couldn’t leave Huanuco without going to a Church service because my Huanuqueñan Jewish “foster mother” sings professionally in the choir that sings at every special mass  (whether for a wedding, funeral, or holiday). Saturday, after our Jewish community had its first Saturday morning service with me, and after our lunch/Kiddush, I walked to the San Cristobal Church in my Shabbes clothes with a baseball cap. There have been times in Peru were I’ve seriously felt like an outsider, but I think the prize for 1^st place in outsiderness goes to this experience. I took off my cap and kippah, because it’s considered offensive to have a head covering in many Churchs. I’m sitting there, and the choir starts singing. I really enjoyed their repertoire- that classic wedding song, some excerpts of Handel’s Mesiah and Judas Maccabaeus, a Peruvian folksong El Condor Pasa (made famous by Simon and Garfunkel), and some other Christian hymns.  Then the whole kneeling and saying amen to stuff with Jesus and I felt really uncomfortable. People stared at me like never before; they were probably thinking, “What is that redhead Gringo doing in our Church if he’s not even participating in mass?”  Good question.

 

The Church where the wedding took place

The copied Torah

The real Torah from 1870