200 Trees in the Forest

For Macedonian Jews, March 11 is a day of both solemn remembrance and joyful rebirth.  On that date in 1943, 8,000 Jews in Bulgarian-controlled Macedonia were deported to Treblinka and only a handful survived.  But in 2001, exactly 58 years later, they dedicated their new synagogue, Bet Yaakov, on the top floor of the Jewish community center in downtown Skopje. 

The chief rabbi of Yugoslavia and Macedonia, Rabbi Yitzchak Asiel – who trained in Israel and serves both communities with JDC support – led services, the first held there in more than half a century.  He spoke about the timely topic of that week’s torah portion, the building of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem.

Funding for construction and furnishings came from JDC and a synagogue in Phoenix, Arizona that also donated a sefer torah.  Two other torahs were presented to the community by a synagogue in Pasadena, California and the Jewish community in Sofia, Bulgaria.   But a core group of 30 young people – what Viktor Mizrahi, the community president, calls "the strong oaks in our forest" – were active in the actual building of the synagogue and the rebuilding of Macedonian Jewish life.

"Our community, though small, is strong like 200 trees standing together," said Viktor at the dedication.  "This is the fulfillment of a dream that will make us even stronger."