We arrived at the centre at 9:30 AM and were greeted by the director of the Center, Hideo Yoshida, who is the identical twin brother of the director of the Holocaust Centre. It was like déjà vu!
The Beit Shalom is a complex of buildings in a residential neighbourhood of Kyoto. The main building houses a museum dedicated to the founder of the movement. We watched a brief video where the now deceased leader spoke, at the age of 94, to a group of visiting Israelis, and told them the story of his vision and his love for Israel and how all parts of historic Israel has to remain under the control of the State of Israel.
Below is a poem written by Reverand Otsuki when he visited the Kotel.
We saw and read the various plaques and dedications that were displayed in the museum; letters, pictures and greetings from former President Yitzchak Navon, former Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren, former Defense Minister Moshe Dayan; honorary degrees from Bar Ilan and Hebrew University.
We then met with the current director who is the son of the founder and met the director general of the Holocaust Center, Makato Otsuka, who speaks a fluent Hebrew, having spent a number of years studying in Israel.
It was very moving to meet non Jews in Japan who truly loved Israel and what it stands for and who have not been swayed at all in their commitment to Israel's success and future by the untruths and negative propaganda spouted in today's media and by many foreign governments. We shared with all of them our message that we value their friendship and that even tho we may have different religions and even different concepts of Mashiach, that it is very valuable when we can respect each other and join together in the pursuit of peace.
We returned to gather our belongings and continued our journey to Kobe.
Kobe is an old port city with a population of 1.5 million, that was devastated by a huge earthquake in 1995, officially called the Great Hanshin Earthquake. Close to 5000 people were killed in Kobe and over 400,000 homes were irreparably damaged. 120 out of 150 shipping docks, which are the lifeblood of this port city, were damaged. Highways buckled and caved in at numerous spots.
As a result, visitors to Kobe today are viewing an almost totally rebuilt city. It is modern and bustling and the port, which was totally rebuilt in less than 2 years (on time and on budget....typically Japanese) has now been expanded and reinforced to prevent any future damage of this magnitude in another earthquake.
Kobe's Jewish history began in the 1860's. Japan had been a closed society until then and when they decided to open their borders to foreign trade and to foreigners living in Japan, they did so, in two port cities, Kobe and Yokohama. And naturally Jews came to trade in these two now open cities. It is for this reason that when you walk thru Kobe today, you see many more signs in English than in other parts of Japan.
By the early 1900s there was a well established community and a Zionist movement in Kobe and the first shul was built in 1912. When the great earthquake of 1923 hit Yokohama, most of its Jewish residents relocated to Kobe.
Two distinct communities, Ashkenazic and Sefaradic, developed and in the Second World War when the Sefaradic shul was destroyed in an allied bombing raid, the two communities decided to share premises. Today the Ohel Shlomo Synagogue functions as a Sefaradic synagogue with an Ashkenazic Chabad Rabbi and a membership of immigrants to Japan from primarily the USA and Israel.
We arrived at our apartment at 1 PM and Shabbat was to begin about 5 hours later.
We unpacked and walked over to the shul mainly so that we would know the route as there is no Eruv in Kobe and we would not be able to carry a map.
We walked mainly uphill to reach the shul and met Rabbi Shmulik Vishedsky, originally from Kfar Chabad in Israel. The rabbi and his wife Batya and their three daughters have been in Kobe for two years and clearly have made an impact on the community. They are loved by their members.
In contrast to many other Chabad centres that we have visited, the rabbi was working in the kitchen when we arrived and he explained that because the community is small and not wealthy and because labour in Japan is very expensive, much of the work has to be done by volunteers.
Rabbi Shmulik instantly impressed us as a warm, selfless, non judgemental and caring person and over Shabbat, our initial impressions were confirmed.
We returned to shul at candlelighting time and a little while later people began to arrive. There were a number of regulars and a few tourists like us. What was surprising was that a few of the regulars, who lived in Osaka and Kyoto, nearby cities, actually moved in to the apartments above the shul as they were Shomer Shabbat.
By the time we sat down to the Seudat Shabbat, there were about 25 people there and we had a very enjoyable Friday night experience. We met Batya, the Rebbetzin, also from Kfar Chabad, and she was the perfect complement to Rabbi Shmulik. They were both so positive and welcoming to the guests and to the locals.
What was noticeable was the level of intermarriage between primarily Israeli men and Japanese women and their resulting offspring. This presents challenges to the Rabbi and Rebbetzin and they amazingly take it in stride. They see their mission to bring the warmth of Judaism to the Jewish partner and to the children and they work very hard creating programs to highlight Jewish pride and identity. At the present time, they are preparing for a major Purim program and the Pesach Sedarim. They hope to have about 250 people at the Seder.
When I asked Rabbi Shmulik how many Jews were in Kobe, he replied that it is not just Kobe but the entire Kansai region which he estimates has over 1000 Jewish residents. He is working tirelessly to create a database of all the Jews in the area and he jokingly told us that he was "the chief Rabbi of over 60,000,000 people", the population of the Kansai region in Japan.
Shabbat morning, davening began at 10:30 am. This was the latest start ever for a Chabad minyan that we have attended anywhere in the world. But by the middle of Pesukai D'Zimra, we had a minyan and by the time davening was over, there were about 18 men and 5 women there. I had volunteered to layn and I am now able to add Japan to the growing list of countries where I have had the privilege to layn the Torah.
We met some very interesting local residents there and a number of visitors as well. One was a professor from Bar Ilan who was lecturing in Kobe and one was a lawyer from Washington specializing in the shipping and logistic industries.
The meal was noteworthy in that Friday night's menu contained only fish and Shabbat's menu had mainly fish with a cholent that had a little chicken. You see, Japan has only recently been able to import kosher chickens from Iowa and supply is very limited. Beef cannot be imported yet and Chabad is working hard to either import meat or shecht Kobe beef in Japan. But the meals were very good, there were many salads and home baked Challot and both gefilte fish and salmon.
On Motzaei Shabbat, the Rabbi and Rebbetzin invited us, together with a young American man from Miami studying Japanese in Kobe, and a visiting student from France who was just completing an internship in Shanghai, to a Melave Malka in their home above the shul. The meal was great, the shakshuka was amazing and the conversation with the rabbi and the other guests was interesting and lively.
We left with a wonderful impression of the Chabad couple's dedication and mesirat nefesh on behalf of the Jewish residents of this area of Japan.
On Sunday morning, we took the cable car to the top of the mountain overlooking Kobe and could see the huge man made island that had been built off the shore of Kobe using landfill from the 1995 earthquake. From the top of the mountain, there is a walkway to the mid level and it is an amazing herb garden with every imaginable herb growing along the paved and picturesque pathway down the mountain.
We spent the rest of the day walking through the city which has numerous "shopping streets", covered midrachovs with tons of shopping. The streets were packed with shoppers and it was a very colourful way to spend a Sunday afternoon in Kobe.
On Monday morning before we left for Osaka, we walked down to the shore and visited the Earthquake memorial. This is an area of town that has been left exactly as it was immediately following the earthquake of 1995. We watched a short film in English which recounted how the citizens of Kobe and its government pulled together to rebuild in record time. It was truly an impressive accomplishment.
We picked up our bags and headed by train to our next stop Osaka.
To be continued....
All the best
Fran and David
Happy Travels!
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