Some visitors to the to the Kedoshei Yisrael Shul in Kiryat Gat are taken by surprise when they see the rav is a member of Israel’s Ethiopian community, not what one might expect in a shul of survivors of the Shoah.

Rav Sharon Shalom, 35, became the rav last year. He is married and the father of three, also a resident of Kiryat Gat. He was a regular among the mispalalim in the shul because it was close to his home.

The shul was established about 50 years ago by a group of ‘survivors’ in memory of members of their respective families who were murdered by the Nazi death machine.

As the survivors get older and the shul population grows smaller, the shul board decided they must take steps to bring the young in to keep the minyan and the shul going, prompting their decision to offer Rav Sharon the post as the new rav of the shul. He is now the ‘acting rav’ they explain and they are looking forward to officially declaring him the Mora D’Asra on Rosh Hashanah.

Rav Shalom explains he is proud to have been offered the post, adding the shul attracts mispalalim whose nusach is Eidot Mizrach and Sfard, and while the official shul minhag is Ashkenaz, he hopes to introduce some portions of tefillos from the other nusachot as well, adding the shul is a model of “kibbutz galiyot” and all are proud of the example of harmony between the eidot (different streams of Yiddishkeit).

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)