| Sixteen-year old Yehudah Webster is the kind of kid | | | | According to Yehudah, "For me, this is a life-shaping |
| that were he to don a Mets baseball cap backward, | | | | experience; definitely unique. It has given me the |
| you'd walk straight past him on a busy thoroughfare in | | | | opportunity to find myself and refocus the faith aspect |
| Manhattan. But engage him in a conversation of mutual | | | | of my life." |
| interest, his gentle, intelligent eyes and manner would | | | | "Three years ago at Oheb Shalom, I had my Bar |
| rivet your attention. With his black woolen tresses | | | | Mitzvah, and this was the beginning of my journey in |
| styled in locks, were he to grab a wooden staff and | | | | finding my self. But like many kids, after a while, one |
| his favorite 'tallit' (a shawl) in a rural setting, you'd easily | | | | tends to lose the focus. Coming to Suriname has |
| mistake him for a sheep or goat herder in the | | | | definitely put me back on track. Apart from my studies |
| highlands of Abyssinia. | | | | at school, the key force in this vital process has been |
| But, since September, this Jewish lad from Newark, | | | | my Torah readings on 'shabbat' and festivals at Neve |
| New Jersey, has brought renewed faith and vitality - | | | | Shalom. It's an honor to be here." |
| tearful joy at times - to the members of Neve Shalom | | | | Just prior to and during the high season, on Thursdays, |
| Synagogue in Suriname, home to the oldest surviving | | | | while his fellow students played chess and scrabble, |
| Jewish community in the Americas which dates back | | | | Yehudah would slip away from school - with |
| to the mid-seventeenth century. In this little window of | | | | permission, of course - to go to Neve Shalom to assist |
| time, one time-honored Jewish tradition - reading the | | | | with shining the synagogue's centuries-old brass |
| Torah - almost lost at Neve Shalom has been | | | | chandeliers. |
| salvaged and restored. | | | | "I feel extraordinarily blessed with this experience. Just |
| This year, on the eve of the Jewish high season of | | | | entering Neve Shalom is amazing in itself because |
| festivals, at the behest of Neve Shalom's President, | | | | here is the oldest Jewish community in the region. It's |
| Jules Donk, and Cantor Jack Van Neil, ancient Torah | | | | awesome to be able to serve in this way using a skill |
| Scrolls were ceremonially removed from the Ark, | | | | they've almost lost, and one which I've studied every |
| processed towards the bima, placed on the lecturn, | | | | week for the past eight (8) years as a Hebrew |
| and with the synagogue's 'yad' (a hand-shaped pointer) | | | | student of Torah." |
| in hand, young Yehudah began fluently reading from | | | | Yehudah felt deeply honored on Yom Kippur when he |
| the Book of Deuteronomy in ancient Hebrew. His | | | | was invited to help Cantor Van Neil and Mr. Donk with |
| innocent eyes were alit as his voice thrilled and | | | | the service. "I'll never forget this experience. Everything |
| resounded in the synagogue chanting the eon-aged | | | | went beautifully on the high day," he said. |
| Hebrew tropes. | | | | Although he's thousands of miles away from home |
| "My Hebrew teacher, Cantor Rikki Lippitz from Oheb | | | | and synagogue, this young black American teenager |
| Shalom Synagogue in South Orange would be proud | | | | with wooly locks is making a big difference with his gift |
| of her student in Suriname. I think the same goes for | | | | and knowledge of ancient Hebrew. |
| Rabbi Mark Cooper," young Yehudah said. | | | | Looking back, last August, as he bade farewell to |
| As innocuous as this commonplace event was, it was | | | | scout companions and traveled 3,000 miles south, |
| a milestone in Suriname: This was the first time for the | | | | ostensibly, Yehudah was just seeking quiet space - |
| year the ancient Hebrew texts were being read at | | | | away from the all-too-familiar teenage distractions - to |
| Neve Shalom. It brought tears to the eyes of Cantor | | | | focus his intellectual forces on college-board |
| Van Neil who made no attempt to conceal his | | | | examinations. Back then, he thought his semester-long |
| emotions - twice he wiped his eyes with the fringe of | | | | respite from Newark was just a study-stopover at the |
| his 'tallit'. | | | | AlphaMax Academy, a small, private international |
| "I've been playing the role of Cantor at Neve Shalom | | | | school in Paramaribo, Suriname. What Yehudah did not |
| for the past 18 years following in my father's | | | | anticipate when he boarded Continental Airlines is that |
| footsteps. And I can tell you a lot of people come to | | | | his coming to Suriname would tap and stir deep |
| Suriname, but the flame is not burning [in them]. That | | | | spiritual yearnings by simply singing familiar ancient |
| day when Torah was read, I felt amazing happiness. It | | | | Hebrew tropes in one of the oldest historic |
| was full. I am very sensitive and couldn't help but cry," | | | | synagogues in the Western hemisphere. |
| Cantor Van Neil revealed. | | | | |