A synagogue visit in Tokyo

A lucky Rockville Centre resident had the opportunity to be one of the first few tourists allowed to visit Tokyo in nearly two and a half years, since the entire nation of Japan closed its borders to foreign travelers as the coronavirus pandemic spread.

But that was only half of what made this trip so special. Michael Shenker, an accountant, the treasurer of Congregation B’nai Sholom-Beth David, and a member of the synagogue’s board of directors, made the journey in October to visit a synagogue there.

“I didn’t know what to expect going in,” Shenker told the Herald. “They learn the religion just as anyone else does in America. We’re all connected by the same religious aspects.”

Jews have been living in Japan since at least the 1860s and possibly earlier. The Tokyo synagogue, the Jewish Community of Japan, was chartered in 1953, making it the third in the country, following the ones established in Nagasaki, in 1889, and in Kobe, in 1937.

At the time it was built, the temple was described by one of the Jewish Community of Japan’s lay leaders as “a microcosm of the cosmopolitan world living at peace.” The structure was torn down in 2008 and replaced by a new, more modern building in September 2009, which was designed by the renowned architect Fumihiko Maki.

Before heading overseas, Shenker connected with Rabbi Andrew Scheer of the Jewish Community of Japan online. Shenker described the rabbi as a young, dynamic and very personable man who lives in an apartment above the synagogue with his wife, Tali, and their son.

Scheer, who was born and raised in Woodmere, studied at Yeshivat Sha’arei Mevaseret Zion in Israel, and earned a degree in Jewish History from New York University. He went on to study at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in Riverdale, in the Bronx, where he was a Wexner Graduate Fellow and a participant in the Museum of Jewish Heritage’s Fellowship at Auschwitz for the study of professional ethics.

Scheer served as a rabbinic intern at Congregation Sherith Israel, in Nashville, Tennessee, and Congregation Orach Chaim, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. He was also in the U.S. Army Reserve for five years, as a chaplain candidate assigned to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

After he was ordained, Scheer worked as a Jewish chaplain on Rikers Island and completed four units of Clinical Pastoral Education during a residency at the VA New York Harbor Healthcare System, where he was senior rabbi for the hospital.

Between his college and seminary education, Scheer taught English in the Japanese countryside and Sunday school at the Jewish Community of Japan.

The Tokyo synagogue’s congregation comprises roughly 100 families, most of them relocated from the U.S., Europe, and parts of the former Soviet Union. For the high holidays — Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur — foreign dignitaries including Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, were invited to attend services there.

During the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, all of the kosher meals for Jewish competitors were prepared in the synagogue’s kitchen.

“What a remarkable facility it was,” Shenker said of his visit. “It’s a beautiful synagogue.” He added that he was very grateful to the synagogue for granting him access to the country.

The congregation has about 50 students who attend classes twice a week, learning in both English and Hebrew. But because of the slow opening of the country’s borders as the pandemic has eased, Shenker wasn’t allowed in the classrooms when he visited on a Sunday morning, while students were in the midst of bar and bat mitzvah lessons.

Shenker brought along a copy of the Herald, which he gave to Scheer as a reminder of life back home on Long Island.

“I can’t believe my luck as I relax on the couch with a copy of the Herald in my hands,” Scheer said in a text message to Shenker. “$12.95 for an oil change at Anton’s is a real bargain. Wish I could get that deal in Tokyo.”

For more about the synagogue and its congregation, visit JCCJapan.jp online.