Twelve synagogue gabbaim (sextons) received special awards at a festive convention in Jerusalem’s Regency Hotel on Monday, with the participation of hundreds of people. Among the guests were Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger and other leading rabbis, Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin, MKs Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh) and Yaakov Margi, and many prominent public figures.
The 12 received a “Life’s Work for Serving the Public Faithfully” award. Chosen out of a list of dozens of nominees from around the country, they represent synagogues in Jerusalem, Tiberias, Haifa, Gush Etzion, Kibbutz Ein HaNatziv in the Jordan Valley and elsewhere around the country.
The gabbaim were recognized for outreach to the wider public, increasing synagogue attendance, and working tirelessly behind the scenes at all hours to make sure synagogue services run smoothly.
Rabbi Metzger, echoing the organizers’ intentions, said the event should "go international" in future years. Rabbi Ratzon Arusi, considered the “Chief Rabbi” of Israel’s Yemenite community, noted, “When everyone is enjoying a festive synagogue service during a Bar Mitzvah or for a newly-married couple, it is the gabbai who is a ‘nervous wreck’ making sure that all the ‘kibudim’ are distributed to the satisfaction of all.”
MK Rivlin quoted a verse from the Biblical Song of Deborah (Judges 5,2) praising “the national volunteers,” and Rabbi Ronen Neuwirth (son-in-law of Science Minister Rabbi Dr. Daniel Herskovitz) spoke of ways to encourage non-observant Jews to feel at home in synagogue services.
Among the recognized gabbaim were Alexander Nistenboim, known as Saba (Grandpa) Sender, gabbai of the Central Synagogue in Ramat Gan for 58 years; Gedalia Schreiber of the famous Yeshurun Synagogue in Jerusalem; Phil Levine from Hertzliya Pituach, who immigrated from the UK some 40 years ago; and Rabbi Simcha Yosef (Jerry) Bass of Gilo in southern Jerusalem, who made Aliyah from the US around the same time.
In addition, seventh-generation Jerusalemite Benny Kleiner agreed to display his unique collection of synagogue stamps and books from around the world. “I believe there is no other institution or personage that has been commemorated on as many stamps as synagogues,” Kleiner said. “I have samples from Surinam, Egypt, India, Africa, Panama, Barbados, Iceland, Gibraltar, and many other countries.”
The gabbaim project is the initiative of the weekly B’Sheva newspaper and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. B’Sheva director Dudu Saada said the plan is to expand the venture to the United States, and give recognition to gabbaim in at least some of the thousands of synagogues from coast to coast.