Month: September 2025

Vayelekh (וַיֵּלֶךְ – He went)
Deuteronomy 31:1–30 • Hosea 14:2–10, Joel 2:11–27, Micah 7:18–20

Moses announces his departure and entrusts Joshua with the responsibility of leading the people. He gives Israel a song — the song of the Torah. He commands them to write and transmit it. The haftarah of Shabbat Shuvah urges Israel toward teshuvah, a sincere return to the Eternal.

Hosea 14:2
שׁוּבָה יִשְׂרָאֵל עַד ה׳ אֱלֹהֵיךָ
Return, Israel, to the Eternal your God

In the 1920s–1930s, Captain Artur Carlos de Barros Basto^[1] founded the Jewish Community of Porto and launched a campaign to reconnect the descendants of crypto-Jews^[2] with Judaism. Despite his expulsion from the army in 1937, the Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue (מקור חיים – Source of Life) was inaugurated in 1938, thanks to the patronage of the Kadoorie family^[3]. However, deprived of leadership for several decades, the synagogue remained silent. Renewal began in the early 2010s, driven by the arrival of new members and support from the rabbinate of Lisbon and Israel. Since 2014, the Jewish community of Porto has opened a rabbinical court, a Jewish museum (2015), a mikveh (2016), a Holocaust museum (2021), and a cemetery (2023). It has also engaged in film production with several historical films^[4]. The community, which had barely forty members in 2010, now exceeds one thousand. Today, the Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue^[5] is the largest Jewish building in the Iberian Peninsula. Designed in Art Deco style, with a white façade reminiscent of Bauhaus, it was created by architect Augusto dos Santos Malta and engineer Arthur de Almeida Jr.

^[1] Artur Carlos de Barros Basto (1887–1961) was a Portuguese officer, intellectual, and Jewish activist, nicknamed the “Portuguese Dreyfus” due to the antisemitic injustice he suffered. At the age of nine, he discovered that his ancestors were Jews forcibly converted to Christianity in the 16th century. A hero of the 1910 Republican Revolution and a decorated World War I veteran, he received the Portuguese War Cross for bravery. After studying Judaism, he converted and took the name Abraham Israel Ben-Rosh. In 1923, he founded the Jewish community of Porto, established the Rosh Pina Institute — the first yeshiva in Portugal in five centuries — and advocated for the return of crypto-Jews to Judaism. In 1937, Barros Basto was unjustly expelled from the Portuguese army for organizing circumcisions. His official rehabilitation was only recognized posthumously, in 2012, by the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal.
^[2] Conversos / Crypto-Jews: Conversos refers to Jews who converted to Christianity (often under duress); crypto-Jews emphasizes the secret practice of Judaism. The return of their descendants is carried out through halakhic conversions.
^[3] The name “Kadoorie” honors Sir Elly Kadoorie and his sons Lawrence and Horace, who financed the construction of the Porto synagogue in the 1930s. Descended from a Sephardic Jewish family originally from Baghdad, the Kadoories are known for their philanthropy and support of Jewish communities around the world.
^[4] The films were directed by Luís Ismael, whose real name is Luís Miguel da Rocha Ferreira, a Portuguese director, producer, actor, and entrepreneur known for his work in independent cinema. Founder of the production company Lightbox, one of the leading studios in northern Portugal, he collaborated with the Jewish community of Porto to produce several historical films:
• Sefarad (2019): recounts the story of Artur Carlos de Barros Basto and the Jewish revival in Porto in the 20th century.
• The Nun’s Kaddish (2019): a 7-minute short film about a Catholic nun who discovers she is Jewish, illustrating a spiritual meditation on the search for truth.
• 1618 (2021): a historical drama about the Inquisition in Porto, now the most awarded Portuguese film to date.
^[5] The Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue in Porto is the result of a project initiated in 1923 by Artur Carlos de Barros Basto and the Jewish community of Porto. The land was acquired in 1929, and construction began the same year. The building was completed in 1937 and officially inaugurated in 1938. Long closed to the public, it was reopened in 2012 and further enriched in 2015 with the installation of a Jewish museum within its walls.

Nitzavim (ניצבים – Standing)
^{Deuteronomy 29:9–30:20 & Isaiah 61:10–63:9}

Moshe gathers all of Israel to renew the covenant with the Eternal. This solemn moment emphasizes the unity of the people, as each individual is called to stand before God.

Rosh Hashanah (ראש השנה – Beginning of the Year)
Yom Teru‘ah (יום תרועה – Day of Sounding)
^{Genesis 21:1–34; 22:1–24 • Numbers 29:1–6 • 1 Samuel 1:1–2:10 • Jeremiah 31:1–19}

On Rosh Hashanah, the biblical readings evoke the birth and binding of Yitzḥak, the prayer of Ḥannah, and the tears of Yirmiyahu. The sound of the shofar recalls the ram substituted for Yitzḥak, but also the cries of prayer and the calls for mercy. It embodies the breath of covenant and spiritual awakening.

Deuteronomy 29:9
אַתֶּם נִצָּבִים הַיּוֹם כֻּלְּכֶם, לִפְנֵי ה׳ אֱלֹהֵיכֶם
You are all standing today before the Eternal, your God

Numbers 29:1
יוֹם תְּרוּעָה, יִהְיֶה לָכֶם.
It shall be for you a day of sounding the shofar.

Shofarot Israel – Bar-Sheshet Ribak :
The Bar-Sheshet family traces its lineage back to 14th-century Spain with Rabbi Yitzḥak Bar-Sheshet Barfat^[¹]. According to family tradition, one of his descendants began working with horn to make utilitarian objects, eventually specializing in crafting shofars.
After the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, the Bar-Sheshet family settled in Morocco, where the craft of shofar-making was preserved for generations. In 1947, Meir Bar-Sheshet boarded the Exodus^[²] en route to Eretz Israel, but the ship was turned away by British authorities, and Meir was interned in a camp in Germany. There, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, he crafted his first shofar. In 1948, he succeeded in immigrating to Israel and, reconnecting with his ancestral craft, founded a workshop in Haifa.

On the Ribak side, the artisanal tradition begins in Włodawa, Poland, with Yaakov Rossman. Known for his expertise in hornwork, he gained recognition for the quality of his shofars. In 1927, he immigrated to Mandatory Palestine and settled in Tel Aviv, where he became the first artisan to craft shofars in the city. With no direct descendants, he passed his knowledge to his cousin Avraham Ribak, who continued the workshop and trained his son Eli Ribak.

In the 1980s, Eli Ribak and Tsvi Bar-Sheshet, son of Meir, founded Shofarot Israel – Bar-Sheshet Ribak, which is now recognized worldwide as a leading name in handcrafted shofars.

The shofars produced in this workshop are made from the horns^[³] of kosher animals, such as ram, kudu, ibex, oryx, and eland. Each horn is softened by heat, hollowed, shaped, drilled at the mouthpiece, polished, and carefully finished by hand. Some models are silver-plated, painted, or engraved according to client preferences. The entire process is fully artisanal, using tools often designed by the craftsmen themselves, in strict accordance with the laws of kashrut and halakhic requirements.

^[¹] Yitzḥak Bar-Sheshet Barfat (יצחק בר ששת ברפת), known by the acronym Ribash (ריב״ש), was born in 1326 in Valencia and died in 1408 in Algiers. He was one of the greatest halakhic authorities of his time, authoring hundreds of responsa and serving rabbinic roles in the communities of Barcelona, Zaragoza, and Algiers. He remains a major figure in medieval Sephardic Judaism, known for the rigor of his reasoning.
^[²]The President Warfield, an American steamship, was reassigned in 1947 by Mossad LeAliyah Bet to transport over 4,500 Holocaust survivors to Mandatory Palestine. Renamed Exodus 1947 at sea, it was intercepted by the British navy before reaching Haifa. Three passengers were killed, and the survivors were interned in camps in Germany. The incident sparked international outrage and contributed to growing support for the creation of the State of Israel.
^[³]Cow horn is not used to make a shofar, as it is referred to in the Torah by the term keren (קרן) rather than shofar (שופר). According to the Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 26a), this terminological distinction excludes it from ritual use. Additionally, some commentators associate it with the sin of the golden calf, reinforcing its unsuitability for sacred sounding on Rosh Hashanah.

Ki Tavo (כִּי-תָבוֹא – “When You Enter”)
^{Readings: Deuteronomy 26:1–29:8 • Isaiah 60:1–22}

The parashah opens with the law of the first fruits (bikkurim), which every farmer is to bring to the place chosen by God, accompanied by a declaration of gratitude. It then presents the law of the tithe (ma‘asser), designated for the Levites, orphans, widows, and foreigners.

The Torah is inscribed on stones at Mount Ebal, marking the covenant with God, and sacrifices are offered there. The Levites proclaim a series of warnings, to which the people respond “Amen.” Blessings for obedience are pronounced on Mount Gerizim, while curses for transgression are declared on Mount Ebal.

In the haftarah, the prophet Isaiah envisions a restored Jerusalem, radiant with divine light, drawing the nations toward her in a spirit of peace, gratitude, and spiritual awakening.

Isaiah 60:1
קוּמִי אוֹרִי כִּי בָא אוֹרֵךְ
Arise, shine, for your light has come.

In 1947, in the Judean Desert near Qumran, a young shepherd accidentally discovers a cave hidden among the cliffs. Inside, ancient jars contain manuscripts over two thousand years old. These texts shed new light on our understanding of that era.

Among the treasures unearthed is a complete scroll of the Book of Isaiah (1QIsaᵃ), meticulously written on sewn sheets of leather. Measuring 7.34 meters in length, it contains all 66 chapters of the book, in a remarkably well-preserved state.

Dated to the 2nd century BCE, the manuscript has been restored with exceptional care, preserving both its structure and legibility. Today, it is housed in the Israel Museum, in the wing known as the Shrine of the Book, where it continues to enlighten scholars and visitors with its unique testimony.

Ki-Tetsé (כִּי-תֵצֵא – When you go out)
^{Deuteronomy 21:10–25:19 & Isaiah 54:1–10}

Ki-Tetsé contains 74 commandments, making it one of the most densely packed portions of the Torah in terms of legal instruction. These laws govern various aspects of Israel’s social, familial, and moral life. The parasha concludes with the commandment to remember what Amalek did—a call to vigilant memory in the face of hostility.
The haftarah, drawn from the book of Isaiah, offers a consoling vision: Jerusalem, likened to a barren woman, is called to give birth to a multitude. The prophet reaffirms the eternal covenant between God and His people, and the unwavering divine compassion that endures beyond exile.

Deuteronomy 21:10
כִּי-תֵצֵא לַמִּלְחָמָה עַל-אֹיְבֶךָ
When you go out to war against your enemies…

The Cantonist^[1] Synagogue of Tomsk was built in 1906. It was confiscated by Soviet authorities in 1930 and converted into municipal housing. In 2013, it was finally returned to the local Jewish community.
Inside, the original wooden paneling remains visible beneath a light whitewash. The restored Holy Ark is adorned with a curtain embroidered with the initials of Tzvi Hertz Yankelowitz, one of the founding cantonists of the synagogue.
This solid wooden structure, a rare surviving example of Siberian Jewish religious architecture, underwent full restoration to become a museum of Judaism in Siberia. Today, it stands as one of the last preserved examples of this unique architectural style.

^[1] The cantonists were Jewish boys forcibly conscripted into military schools of the Russian Empire beginning in 1827, under Tsar Nicholas I. An imperial decree required Jewish communities to provide a quota of children, often between the ages of 8 and 12, for military training. At age 18, these boys were drafted into the army for a term of 25 years. The system was abolished in 1857 under Tsar Alexander II.