By Jessica Champagne and Teuku Cut Mahmud Aziz Photographs
by
Jessica ChampagneI
t's hard to convince most Indonesians that Jews don't run the world, or at least the banks and US foreign policy. It's even harder to convince them that there's a longstanding community of Jews in Indonesia itself. In the early twentieth century, there were at least a thousand Jews, spread out over Padang, Semarang, Medan, Malang, Bandung, Batavia, Jogjakarta, and perhaps other cities. Now, while expats and others may gather in Jakarta and other major cities, the only synagogue and the largest Jewish community are in Surabaya.This lone synagogue is easy to miss. The former residence of a Dutch doctor during the colonial period, the exterior is plain white, with a small section of wooden carving hidden by tree branches. The inside is immediately recognizable as an Orthodox, Sephardi synagogue. Men and women are separated as Orthodox Jewish law dictates, and the pulpit faces the ark for the Torah together with the congregation in accordance with the tradition of Sephardi Jews, those from Spain, Africa, and the Middle East. The simple, wooden ark is empty now; the old Torah scrolls belong to a larger congregation in Singapore. There is a ragtag collection of books locked away in the pulpit cabinet and the ark-frayed Jewish history books in Dutch, World War II-issue GI prayer books, shinier new prayer books from a New York institution dedicated to preserving Sephardi tradition.
There is little documentation of the past-at least one old book of names and records has been thrown out, seen as bulky and unnecessary. Stories, though, are passed down through the generations; the few children readily describe their grandparents' childhoods. Leah Zahavi and Isaac Solomon*, each of whom has held various official posi tions in the synagogue, are among those who keep their community alive, and are eager to share their memories and passed-down stories. Leah, whose features reflect her Iraqi origins, lives in a house adjoining the synagogue and serves as a caretaker and occasionally as a guide.
In telling community history, Leah often lapses back into Biblical tales of Ham, Shem, and Japeth or Sarah and Abraham, exploring the ancient root of the tensions between Jews and Muslims or of Jews as wanderers. Her stories of Indonesia, though, begin in the early 20th century, by which point some Jews (mostly Sephardi) had come to Surabaya as traders. Before living in Indonesia, many had lived in other parts of Asia, such as India, Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong. As Leah says, they settled wherever they could find a living and a respite from war and persecution. When one person found a suitable place, they spread the word. Often, the men went first, and sent for their wives and children after they'd established themselves. As in other Dutch colonies, some (again,
* All the names in this article have been changed in accordance with the individuals' requests.
GENESIS
~
1 When God began' to create heaven and earth- the earth being un- formed and void, with darkness over the surfC:1ce of the deep and a winq from God sweeping over the water- God said, "Let there be light";
I
and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He
c~l1ed Night. And there was evening and there was morni~g, a first day.
From Sacred Writings:Judaism.
Quality Paperback Book Club by arrangement with The Jewish Publication Society 1992
•
mostly Sephardi) Jews came as part of the colonial presence.
Some reports suggest that the community was increased by World War II refugees. Gravestones in a small, overgrown Jewish cemetery plot bear names from around Europe and Asia, as well as generically Jewish names - Sassoon, Kattan, Moses, Reuben, Mussry.
The Surabaya Jews worked largely in trade. Over the decades, community members imported and/or repaired watches, refrigerators, electronics, fruits, diamonds, and more. Their hope that Surabaya would be a safe and profitable home was fulfilled for several decapes.
Then the Japanese invaded, and put the Europeans into internment camps. It is rumored that the Jews were not counted as enemies until Gestapo officers arrived and demanded that the Jews be put into camps and kept separate from the other prisoners. Rumors still circulate that the Indonesian Jews would have been put to death by the Axis powers if the war had continued only a few days longer. As it was, they worked as forced labor on the railroads and were treated brutally. Old men bear physical reminders of their time in the camps, broken noses and missing teeth.
The Jews were liberated when Japan was defeated, but many had lost their homes and possessions. Some left Indonesia, but many dug back in. By the 1950s, the community was thriving again. Community members now speak of the 1950s as the peak of the Jewish community in
Surabaya. They say that thousands of Jews lived in Surabaya, that they dominated the center of town in the way that Chinese are said to today. The community had acquired the current synagogue, its second, and set up a badminton court behind it. The community's youth played sports, studied religion and language, and celebrated holiday and life cycle celebrations with each other anq their families. Even those who couldn't attend these celebrations would send carloads of food, contributing to lavish feasts.
As the 1960s began, Indonesia was again becoming a risky place to set up shop. Jews felt vulnerable to the anti- Dutch feeling that marked the 1962 campaign to reclaim West Irian from the Dutch. They worried about currency instability, Sukarno's economic policies, and their physical safety. The mid-1960s, with the coup against Sukarno and widespread "anti-Communist" violence, increased many Jews' fear for their livelihoods and even for their lives. The Dutch passports held by many of the Indonesian Jews, along with changes in immigration policies, made it easier for them to enter other countries. Many Indonesian Jews decamped to Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, the Netherlands, the United States, and the new state ofIsrael.
It was during this turbulent period that Leah Zahavi came to Indonesia. Abraham Zahavi left for Israel in the 1960s with his mother and brothers, driven by his mother's wish for him to find a nice Jewish bride. Soon after he succeeded in that mission, he returned to Surabaya without
his mother and brothers, but with his new Bombay-born wife, Leah, and a baby daughter, Chaya. By the time Leah and Chaya arrived in Surabaya, in 1969, the vibrant community with regular celebrations and gatherings was only a memory.
The Zahavi family has grown since then, with Chaya marrying an Indonesian Muslim and giving birth to two children (now ages 12 and 15). The community, however, has shrunk further with death and emigration. Now, there are only a handful ofJewish households in Surabaya, a total of about 20 people.
Still, the Zahavi family remains firmly rooted in Surabaya. While Leah speaks of going home to Israel where she can eventually be buried and mourned by a full minyan, Chaya and her children speak ofIndonesia as their home. "I love Indonesia very much," Chaya says. "I grew up here, I went to school here, I eat Indonesian food, my friends are here. I am an Indonesian, and my heart is an Indonesian heart. The father of my children is an Indonesian."
Many members of the older generation still hold Dutch passports gained at independence, ready to flee or chase a better dream abroad. In exchange for the international flexibility of a foreign passport, they accept limitations on their economic and civic rights in the country where they have always lived. These people speak many languages, vestiges of each land they have occupied. Leah readily holds conversations in Hebrew, Indonesian, English, Dutch, and
Farsi, and has some skill in Javanese and Madurese. Chaya's children, however, are Indonesian citizens. While, like others in their cohort, they may dream of studying abroad or visiting family around the world, they will do so under Indonesian passports. The family still preserves the children's Judaism. Parents and grandparents teach them songs, prayers, family stories, and a little Hebrew.
These children's existence flouts the Indonesian state's static, divided concept of religion, in which each person has a single, clear religion stamped on their national ID card and inter-religious marriage is discouraged. While the children have their mother and grandmother's Iraqi features, their skin is an Indonesian brown. Chaya seems conflicted about her children's religious future, first saying they will be allowed to choose and then saying that she can't imagine taking them away from their father. "Who will pray for him when he dies?" she asks. "What would it be if his children prayed for him, a Muslim, in the Jewish way?" For now, the children attend Catholic school, learning the stories of the Old and New Testament, and the boy follows his father to the mosque for Friday prayers. Their ID cards say "Islam," since Judaism is not among the five official options. Chaya's older child herself says "I choose Jewish ...
because I amJewish."
Leah and Chaya constantly find ways to fit themselves into an unexpected niche, building a life that is both Jewish and Indonesian. Leah sells what she calls Jewish food, but
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From Sacred Writings:]udaism.
f!Jtality Paperback Book Club by arrangement with The Jewish Publication Society 1992
markets as Arab food. None of it would be recognized as Jewish in the western lands of bagels and lox. Now that there are too few children to make a Hebrew school, Leah teaches Hebrew periodically to interested Christians. She studies the Bible with Christian friends, Arabic with a Muslim, q.nd is expert at explaining the similarities between Judaism and Islam.
As Leah navigates her life in Surabaya, she also navigates the Indonesian language. While bahasa Indonesia has words for "Jew" (yaIJUdl) and Hebrew (Ibranij, the wealth of words necessary to describe Jewish life and observance are missing.
The Indonesian words Leah uses
to
describe her community are largely lifted from a Muslim Indonesian vocabulary, such as iman (faith) and ummal (the religious community), although the word she uses for the building under her care is gerqa (church).That building is threatened both by the decline in the community's numbers and by what many Indonesian Jews feel is a recent rise in anti-Semitism. Every person interviewed for this article. expressed concern about any additional attention being drawn to their community or to themselves. They said the situation was riskier now than it was a decade ago, and declined to tal,k on the record about past cruelties. They told happy stories about their Muslim and Christian friends and neighbors, and shared few personal anecdotes of anti-Semitism. Still, there was a fear that with the post-New Order decline oflaw and order and the rise of militant Islam, their situation could change rapidly. They do not hide their Judaism from friends and neighbors, but often pass as Arab in casual interactions or when things get tense.
Chaya told of a televised speech by political leader Amien Rais in which he said that stingy Jews were living right here, among Indonesians, in Surabaya. Chaya called an elderly aunt and said "hey, he's talking about us!" The aunt retorted indignantly, "but we're not stingy!" Chaya laughs about the story, but says "we have to be careful-it's like pouring gasoline on the fire." Each person interviewed repeatedly said they did not want to talk about politics, particularly Israel.
This fear mingles with a faith that is constantly reflected in Leah and ehaya's constant allusions to God and fate. They speak of the wheel of life, of how things go up and down in their own time. When asked whether her grandchildren will have a synagogue to pray in when they reach adulthood, Leah says, "the one who knows the future is God." Chaya at one point gestured tOward a plant in the yard, a clipping from Israel that has grown to full size.
''Whatever my mother plants, it grows," she says. "Her hands are blessed. And the soil here is very good-whatever you throw will grow. You even put a stick in the ground and it will be a tree. That's why the Jews before us called it Paradise."
