TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Followers of Judaism long for govt recognition

Unique place: An official (right) of a synagogue talks to a visitor in Rerewokan, West Tondano district, Minahasa, North Sulawesi, on Sept

Lita Aruperes (The Jakarta Post)
Manado
Thu, October 6, 2016

Share This Article

Change Size

Followers of Judaism long for govt recognition

U

span class="inline inline-center">Unique place: An official (right) of a synagogue talks to a visitor in Rerewokan, West Tondano district, Minahasa, North Sulawesi, on Sept. 23.(JP/Lita Aruperes)

Members of minority groups like Shiites and Ahmadis have suffered persecution in several regions of Indonesia. Many have been forced out of their homes and some still live in refugee camps.

But in the North Sulawesi regency of Minahasa life is a bit different. Despite differences in faith, people live peacefully.

The presence of some people who practice Judaism in Minahasa is seen as a symbol of interfaith diversity and harmony.

Yaakov Baruch, a rabbi at the Shaar Hashamayim synagogue in Rerewokan subdistrict, West Tondano district, Minahasa, said interfaith harmony in the regency was very obvious and the followers of different religions got along very well.

During the Islamic fasting month of Ramadhan, for example, the synagogue had hosted a break-the-fast meal for Muslims of the neighborhood. Such events underlined interfaith harmony in the area.

To maintain their good relations, followers of Judaism and other religions often mingled in the neighborhood, Baruch said.

Most members of the Jewish community lived farther away, in Manado, and therefore were unable to clean their synagogue regularly. “It’s usually the people living nearby who do the cleaning or mow the lawn,” Baruch said.

Despite religious harmony in the region, many followers of Judaism feel uneasy about stating their religion on their ID cards.

“Because Judaism is not yet recognized as an official religion in Indonesia, the religion column in our ID cards is often left empty,” he said.

In some cases, they state their religion based on that of their parents or siblings.

As such, Baruch said, when members of the congregation of the synagogue were to get married they had to do the wedding twice — once in accordance with the religion declared on their ID cards and once in accordance with Judaism.

Asked about the number of followers of Judaism in the region, Baruch struggled to answer, arguing that there were many adherents who could not yet reveal themselves openly.

He admitted that the number of the congregation was still small, because Judaism was not a proselytizing religion.

He also said married people who wanted to convert to Judaism could not just convert alone, but had to make all family members convert to Judaism. “If they want to convert to Judaism, they have to do so together with the whole family,” he said, adding that they conducted their worship on Saturdays, facing Jerusalem.

Separately, a member of the synagogue, Manuel Pen Abraham, said he had been a follower of Judaism for the last two years. He said he had converted to Judaism because it taught him about how to respect others.

“I feel comfortable following Judaism,” Manuel said.

Asked for comment on the presence of the Jewish community in the province, North Sulawesi legislative council speaker Andrei Angouw said so far there had not yet been any complaints from the local community.

“As long as they do not disturb security I think it’s not a problem because it does not trigger conflict potential,” Andrei said.

Yet, he said, it was the authority of the central government to make Judaism an official religion in the country.

Judaism followers have been in Minahasa since 1700, before the region was divided into several regencies. The synagogue, however, was only built in 2004.

In the early years, the adherents were just Jewish people coming from the Netherlands and Iraq. In the last few years, however, Minahasa people who are not of Jewish descent started learning about the religion.

{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.