Having already acclimatized to the hot, humid weather of Singapore (which is rather like that of Tel Aviv after a rainstorm), the air conditioning of the Reagent Hotel ballroom seemed unusually chill. But, sure enough, there I was- on a tropical island in the South China Sea, walking into a room filled with row after row of people, with a shofar firmly held in my right hand, and my talis bag in my left. That was Rosh Hashanah 5758.
I�ll get back to the day itself in a moment, but first, a tale of Erev Rosh Hashanah should be told. My father, Matt and I joined thirty or so of our fellow ex-pat Jews in services erev Rosh Hashanah at the same Reagent Hotel, followed by a promised meal of good, kosher, Jewish cooking. Among those who joined us that evening were two American sailors and a Marine, just arrived that night in Singapore on an amphibious assault ship. After services- my first High Holidays away from Beth Ami- we had the opportunity to talk with them at length. Speaking with Jews who spent their days in ceaseless transit reminded me of just how fortunate I have been to have grown up in the Beth Ami community, and to have been so warmly welcomed by the United Hebrew Congregation (Singapore). The cuisine was as promised, and for the first time in some four months, I enjoyed a bowl of matzo-ball soup. Who�d have thought, though, that I�d someday have the opportunity to eat kugel with chopsticks!
The next morning, the whole family was in attendance for morning services. The sailors from the night before had shipped out early that morning, but were no doubt conducting their own shipboard services. The congregation was quite an eclectic group. Evenly spread throughout the long, narrow room were UHC core members, ex-pat businessmen, young couples, small children, teenagers, people of all races. Still, as in a song I once sung in the lower religious school, every ritual, every prayer, was just like those I remembered from home. As if to further the connection with home- just like Rosh Hashanahs past- Matt chanted Torah and I blew shofar. Indeed, the UHC community very warmly welcomed our whole family, in giving us these opportunities
In an effort to share a bit of Beth Ami with the United Hebrew Congregation, some days later at the end of Yom Kippur, I joined with Jim Busis in Singapore�s first diphonic tekiah gadola. It was not the wall-shaking sound from Beth Ami... but we did get the chandeliers to rattle.
-Joe Levy
