The Jerusalem Post
By Herb Keinon
June 26, 2019
“This is historic,” Houdie Nonoo said. “It is the first time in my lifetime that I’ve been in this synagogue with a morning minyan, and more than a minyan”
MANAMA, BAHRAIN — In the center of the city, just off a busy street of shops, in a small unmarked synagogue, a group of 15 Jews gathered Wednesday for a morning minyan (prayer quorum). At the end they joined hands and danced around the bima, singing “Am Yisrael Chai” (The People of Israel Live).
This was not your usual minyan: Not everyday is “Am Yisrael Chai” sung in a Persian Gulf synagogue.
Among those participating was Jason Greenblatt, Washington’s Mideast mediator and one of the architects of the “Peace to Prosperity” workshop taking place here. Aryeh Lightsone, a top aid to US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, gave a brief “dvar torah” after the services. Rabbi Marvin Hier, the fonder and dean of the SImon Wiesenthal Center, led the services.
Houdie Nonoo, Bahrain’s former ambassador to the US and a member of the tiny Bahrani Jewish community, was also on hand — she opened the shul — and said she was “moved.”
“This is historic,” she said. “It is the first time in my lifetime that I’ve been in this synagogue with a morning minyan, and more than a minyan”
She said that sometimes a minyan takes place in the small local cemetery for a memorial service, but not in the shul.
The small synagogue was built in the early 1900’s to serve the small Jewish community, most of whom came from Iraq.
The community peaked at some 1,500 in the 1930s. The synagogue was ransacked during riots in December 1947, and fell into disuse and disrepair. It was renovated in 1996. The community dwindled to some 500 before the Six Day War, and after riots took place at that time, it dwindled even further. Today an estimated 35 Jews live here.
The synagogue, which is used by the community on special occasions — such as on Channukah and Purim — has a small ark, but without a Torah scroll. Instead, there is a silver menorah inside.
On the wall next to the ark is a picture of a letter of the deed of ownership for the land on which the synagogue sits. There is a mezuah on the door, but no sign or indication that itis a synagogue outside. It is located in a busy area surrounded by shops, that once was the area where most of the country’s Jews lived. .
Though there is no sign or physical indication the building houses a synagogue, the shop keepers nearby know of its existence.
“Synagogue?” I asked a man outside a nearby store, as I was looking for directions. He smiled, nodded, and pointed me in its direction.
“The synagogue is the secret weapon of the Jewish community,” said Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, who took part in the minyan. “As soon as you walk in, your home.”
Even in Bahrain.
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