If Earth has an end, it’s Tasmania, a small island an hour’s flight from Australia.
Anyone who has flown to Australia must take another flight or ferry to reach Tasmania. Sixty years ago, when this story unfolded, the Jews there were isolated and knew almost nothing about their Judaism, neither the order of prayers nor their texts. On the island, there is a city called Hobart where a tiny Jewish community of thirty people lived.
Their regular cantor was elderly and decided to leave the island, leaving them alone. They were desolate, desperate. Who would come here for thirty people? Someone came up with an idea: there were couples wandering the city who had come from the mainland, they spoke Hebrew and could serve as leaders of the community.
Professor Michael and Atara Hasofer were one of these couples, originating from Kibbutz Ein Shemer. They dreamed of building the "new Jew", dedicated to agricultural work and rebelling against any religious commitment. Due to a dispute in the kibbutz, they decided to leave the country in frustration and move as far as possible to Tasmania. He studied mathematics and statistics, and she studied psychology.
The community members found out about them and knocked on their door asking Michael to be their cantor and Torah reader. He was sure they were mocking him. "Me?! A kibbutznik who doesn't even fast on Yom Kippur and doesn't separate meat from dairy will be your rabbi?!" They were not discouraged. “You can read Hebrew. Anyone who can read Hebrew is a rabbi” they said. He pitied them and did as they asked, but the ignorance was alarming.
As their actions continued, hearts and prayers moved something in him and in Atara. Since they were academics, they were not willing to do half the work. The thirst to know more authentic Judaism grew. However, there was no one to teach them. Once they sat and talked about their future: maybe to move to a more religious community, but how could they leave the synagogue alone? On the other hand, they couldn't continue like this either. Then Ateret said: we read every week in the Haftarah the words of the prophets who guided the people of Israel. Maybe even in this generation there is a prophet and leader who cares for the people. Let's pray to G-d to send us a message from him.
Three days later, as Michael was walking down the street, he saw a sight that amazed him: there stood a rabbi, a real rabbi, but he seemed a bit confused, as if looking for something and not sure what to do next. Sure enough, it was Rabbi Chaim Gutnick, the community rabbi in Melbourne. Michael shook his hand and literally dragged him home. Rabbi Gutnick taught them many things, and they sat as obedient students, writing it all down. Thus, they began to observe kosher and other mitzvot. A year later, Rabbi Gutnick returned to Tasmania and taught the laws of family purity and more.
Due to the emotional turmoil, Michael forgot to ask Rabbi Gutnick why he had arrived on that fateful day in the distant Tasmanian town of Hobart.
During the days of the Second Temple, an important group decided to leave Jerusalem to establish a competing Temple in Alexandria, Egypt. At secession, there was a conflict between the two sons of Shimon HaTzaddik over who would inherit the position of High Priest. The disgraced brother who lost, Choniyo, gathered his followers and uprooted to Alexandria. They established a colossal synagogue known as "Mikdash Choniyo." The synagogue was so big and magnificent that the cantor's voice did not reach the other end.
Once, several questions arose among the men of Alexandria, and they directed them to the distinguished Tanna, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananiah. Does something of our soul remain? We rebelled and betrayed the Temple; we acted like the generation of the desert who preferred to stay outside the land. Is there still a bone of hope left in us from where we can rise and reconnect with our Jewish community?
He answered them: Just like Moses chose to remain in the desert, to ensure that the Jews of his generation be resurrected when Moshiach comes, the Moses of this generation did not abandon you. You may have disconnected from him, but he did not leave you. Moses, our teacher, does not settle for a perfect life in paradise; he has no pleasure except to be with his generation and to revive and sprinkle dew of life upon the dry souls of the prolonged exile.
Many years later, when the daughter of Hasofer and the daughter of Gutnick met, the secret was finally revealed. Gutnick told her that one day her father received a letter from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, arousing concern that rabbis are busy with large communities and neglecting small towns. As an example, the Rebbe mentioned the island of Tasmania, which was appropriate to visit and see what was needed spiritually. Rabbi Gutnick had taken the matter seriously and immediately traveled to Tasmania.
It was exactly three days after Mrs. Hasofer raised the possibility that even in this generation there is a prophet who hears the cry of the Jew at the end of the world.
Every one of us are at times distant. Sometimes we ask ourselves are we able to reconnect with our heritage? Are we too far removed? The story from Tasmania, the story from Alexandria, and many stories right here in Harford County, tell us no. The Moses of the generation is going to ensure we remain connected, even when it comes at a personal cost to him.
Leslie A. Willoughby wrote...