From the Pulpit: ‘It is never too late and it is never too dark’

Rabbi Eytan Kenter, Kehillat Beth Israel

By Rabbi Eytan Kenter

Kehillat Beth Israel

With a five-year-old and an 18-month-old, the time that I wake up in the morning is largely not of my own choosing. Yet, even when I can wake up on my own, we are still in the most depressing time of the year, when we wake up in darkness and return home from work in that same darkness. Shabbat starts earlier and earlier as it grows cold, snowy, and dark.

This annual reality can serve as an apt metaphor for the challenges that we all too often encounter within our world. Whether it be the problems of climate change or increased tribalization and polarization, there are immense problems that we are encountering and the fear of their growing impact permeates within us. These huge global problems can’t help but worry us and the darkness of hopelessness and fear for the future can, all too often, consume us.

But then, as the end of December approaches, something remarkable happens: the light begins to return and days start getting longer. It is not a coincidence that Chanukah, the festival of lights, falls at this time of year. Not only is the lighting of this candelabra our attempt to remember the miracle of the oil from the story of Chanukah, but it also serves as a reminder, that light can and will return in the face of great darkness. While the situation looked bleak for the Maccabees, they were still able to be victorious. So too, can light overcome darkness in our lives as well.

Martin Luther King Jr. taught, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” No matter how dark it may seem, light can overcome it. No matter how bad our problems may seem, our light and our love can face it, if we are willing to do what it takes to fight back. The Maccabees didn’t simply hope for a better future, they made it happen. They stood up against seemingly insurmountable odds, and with God’s help, were able to win the day.

There are days when I fear the challenges we will face in the years to come will be too difficult to overcome. There are times when I worry that it is already too late to change course, that the darkness has already overwhelmed us. But then I remember the story of Chanukah, then I remember that lighting of the candles in the face of the creeping darkness. If we can find the love deep in our hearts. If we can reclaim the dedication and commitment of the Maccabees. If we can remember that light can always conquer the darkness, we know that the better future we need is still possible. Through our hard work and dedication (literally the meaning of Chanukah), we will be able to repair our world. It is never too late and it is never too dark. As long as every day we add a little more light, one candle at a time, we can once again take pride in returning the world to where it ought to be. One light, one act, and one person at a time.

A gift of a Sefer Torah: From Jews in Ottawa to Jews in Africa

Rabbi Eytan Kenter reads from the Torah, November 7, in the small synagogue in Arusha, Tanzania. It was the first passage read from the scroll – a gift from Kehillat Beth Israel in Ottawa – in its new home.

A group of 38 North Americans – including 28 members of Kehillat Beth Israel in Ottawa – journeyed to Arusha, Tanzania this month with the gift of a Sefer Torah for the small Jewish community there. KBI member David Roytenberg reports from Tanzania.

In 1971, the Jewish community of Arusha, Tanzania, beset by Christian missionaries determined to convert them, lost their only Sefer Torah in a fire related to the conflict with the missionaries. The Tanzanian government had nationalized their synagogue leaving them homeless and without a Torah.

The community struggled in the following decades to continue its existence but suffered a further blow with the death of their rabbi. In the face of all these difficulties the late rabbi’s son, Yehudah Amir, a lawyer by profession, has carried on the leadership of the community, acting as [a de facto] rabbi, chazzan and teacher. He studies daily by Skype with Rabbi Meyer Landy in New Jersey, and the community meets every Shabbat for prayers.

In the spring of 2019, thousands of miles away, Congregation Kehillat Beth Israel of Ottawa, established by the merger of two long standing Ottawa synagogues, Congregation Beth Shalom and Agudath Israel Congregation, began an inventory of the many Torah scrolls in its possession. Both of the predecessor congregations had accumulated a large number of scrolls as a result of earlier amalgamations. The spiritual leader of Kehillat Beth Israel, Rabbi Eytan Kenter, began looking for a small congregation somewhere that might be in need of a Sefer Torah.

Soon after sending out word, Kehillat Beth Israel learned of the plight of the Arusha community and the fact that it had been without a proper Torah since the 1970s. With a membership of 70 persons, the community continued under Yehudah’s leadership, and the offer of a Torah scroll was accepted by Yehudah on behalf of the Jewish community of Arusha.

Yehudah Amir of the Jewish community of Arusha, Tanzania carries the community’s new Torah – a gift from Kehillat Beth Israel in Ottawa – to their synagogue.

On November 7, a group of 38 pilgrims from North America celebrated with Yehudah and the Jewish community of Arusha the inauguration of their new Torah scroll. A procession of several dozen people marched with the Torah into the synagogue and placed the Torah in the ark. A few minutes later, the Torah was removed from the ark and read for the first time in its new home. Rabbi Kenter leined the Thursday reading of the first Aliyah from Parshat Lech Lecha.

After the reading, the Torah was joyfully lifted and tied and placed back in the ark. The participants, both the visitors from North America and the local people, were greatly moved by the celebration. Yehudah, in particular was visibly touched by the proceedings.

For myself, it was a great privilege to be a witness and participant in this important moment of great joy for this small but resilient Jewish community. The Jewish community in Arusha has been quietly coping with its problems on its own for decades, without the help or even the knowledge of the broader Jewish world. The contact by remote communication with Rabbi Landy provided them with a lifeline and the visit by our group from Kehillat Beth Israel has hopefully demonstrated that engagement with the wider Jewish world will enrich them and bolster them in their struggle to survive as a Jewish community.

In the coming years, I hope this connection will blossom into ongoing ties of mutual affection and support between Kehillat Beth Israel and the Jewish community of Arusha.