Kandahar Jewish Community

Health Disclaimer: The following account is not for the faint of heart. Learning the shocking truth about an active Jewish community in Kandahar, Afghanistan, once the heartland for Taliban activity, may trigger a life-threatening health situation for readers with heart conditions, or for those who may be pregnant. Continue at your own risk.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had been put in touch with Captain Dr. Warren Gross, the unofficial Jewish chaplain here at KAF. Now that I've spent two full Shabbats here in Kandahar I'm ready to spill the beans. I had heard from being in touch with Warren, that the Jewish community here has a weekly Shabbat evening and Havdallah service. I couldn't ask for anything better (and would've had to put up with a lot worse depending on where I was assigned). There was actually a moment in Germany when it looked like I may be assigned to another base and my first thought was "now I won't be able to experience all I had heard about from Warren!" In the end, I was assigned to Kandahar where there is an active Jewish Community. I'm very thankful.

As per the instructions I got, I arrived at the CMC building at about 6:30. The center is just past the compound of the Slovakian forces' compound.  It's a multi-purpose building for religious services. It's got a TV, and nice couches, and a kitchen, and a little alcove for bible-study. They've also got Kosher crock pots, a kosher pantry, little kosher refrigerator, and a wide array of Jewish texts! The average Kandahar resident would be surprised at what the 13 (on average) actively practicing Jews in Kandahar need for their religious practices! 

Kinda reminds me of the Dharma village in Lost

So I get to the CMC building and I'm greeted with this sign:

That's what I'm here for!

There are a bunch of people there milling around getting ready for Shabbos. The kosher crock pots are all at capacity because the last week and this past week saw the highest turnout for the KAF Shabbat service so far! 14 and 15 people respectively!

Shabbat Candles ready to be lit - I came early this past Friday in order to take pictures before Shabbat started.

Males don Yarmulkes from the bin:

Prayer Shawls, Yarmulkes.

Then we do a little service. It's pretty bare-bones. Nothing like I'm used to, but for the community utilizing the service Warren seems to have struck a happy medium of Hebrew, English, not too short, and not too long. He gives a short little dvar of some kind and it's time to eat!

Shabbat dinner table. That's Warren on the right. He's wearing a camo Kippa.

 The food consists of challah, prepackaged gefilte fish (then we switch plates - gotta keep it kosher around here) chicken soup, some sort of dish made from easily shipped turkey meatballs, rice, salad, there was kugel this past week... it's not bad considering where we are!

Kosher MREs - akin to those that Bikur Cholim provide at the Cleveland Clinic

More of the Kosher pantry's contents.

Saturday early evenings we meet for Havdallah in the same building, but in the little alcove meant for bible-study. We have a little snack for our seudah shlishi and we make Havdallah. Then we hang around, chat, and solve some of the world's problems, if only everyone would listen...

This is me with Warren at Havdallah last week. Beard is coming along nicely...

Havdallah crew last week.

Siddurim/machzorim. This is about a fifth of what they've got there. They'll come in handy by the time High Holidays roll around.

I was really thrilled to find that there would be some way for me to stay connected to Judaism while I was here. In fact, I'm not positive I'd even agree to take this job if there wasn't some sort of Jewish presence. Warren went on R&R today for two weeks and we got assignments to fill in for him. I've been charged with leading motzi, kiddush, and birkat hamazon while he's gone.

For High Holidays we're supposed to be getting an official chaplain. It would be very hard to try to estimate how many people we could expect to show up for Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur, but I'm looking forward to the experience. They even have a Sukkah here! I will be missing the Park Synagogue choir terribly though...