Shabbaton at the Magen Abraham Synagogue in Ahmedabad, India

With tremendous gratitude to the Star-K and the Magen Avraham Synagogue we were able to organize a Special Friday night dinner for the community in Ahmedabad, Gujarat:

Using the Star-K Kosher Kitchen in Sri-Lanka we prepared and cooked delicious food for the Shabbaton with the help of the Star-K team in Colombo city.

After the Friday Night Prayer Service at the Synagogue led by members of the community, a Torah class on the deeper meaning of the Shofar was delivered followed by Kiddush and a Seudah:

Despite the heavy rain about 25 members of the community stayed for the meal with Zmeirot and Benching. We also discussed some Laws of the upcoming festival and heard from community members about the rich history, customs and practices of the Jews of Gujarat and the northern Indian Jews known as Bene Israel. They shared fond stories of when the community was more active before most of the local families relocated to Israel in the 1970’s: Before this, despite having a large community the city always had one major Synagogue as well as a smaller prayer hall as well as two cemeteries – ongoing links between the Gujarat community and Mumbai as well as other Indian Jewish communities abroad remain strong and supportive.

The Star-K also prepared a Rosh Hashanah activity bag for the children of the community complete with stickers, a holiday themed colouring book and some Kosher sweets to wish them a Happy and sweet New Year, these will be distributed to families by the board of the Synagogue after the Shabbaton.

A special thanks is needed to Rabbi Joel Weinberger & Mr Aviv for creating the event and helping to plan the practical elements of bringing the food to Ahmedabad,  to Audrey, Abigail and Harold at the Sri Lanka office for helping to cook & create the flyer and activity booklet, to the entire Cochin office for logistics and planning and to Ravish Sangani for all his practical assistance in Ahmedabad and for being our photographer for the event.

Shana Tovah!

Rabbi Jonathan Goldschmidt