Where We Worship
Synagogue focuses on participation
By Zenaida Serrano Espanol
Advertiser Staff Writer
• Name of synagogue: Congregation Sof Ma'arav.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
• Our denomination and affiliation: Conservative Jewish congregation affiliated with the United Synagogue based in New York.
Members of Congregation Sof Ma'arav carry Sefer Torahs, which contain the five books of Moses, at a recent service. The Conservative Jewish synagogue is on Pali Highway.
• Where we are: 2500 Pali Highway.
• Our numbers: About 25-35 members attend weekly services.
• Our leader: Congregation Sof Ma'arav is a lay-led group. Its rabbi, Morris Goldfarb, is a member of the congregation. The president of the synagogue is Bernice Littman.
• What we believe: "We're a Jewish congregation and therefore we believe in one God," Littman said. "We believe that the Torah, the five books of Moses, is divinely inspired." Littman said that the Torah constitutes their sacred history and is the most important part of the Hebrew Bible.
"Judaism tends to be very 'this-world' centered," Littman said. "It's not strongly focused on the afterlife in the way that other kinds of congregations are and it focuses very much on the doing of good deeds."
• Our history: The group was founded in 1971 by several local residents, and members first met at Schofield Barracks in a Quonset hut of Aloha Jewish Chapel. The congregation began gathering at its Pali Highway location 28 years ago.
The name of the congregation is Hebrew for "the end of the west," Littman said, which comes from an excerpt of a medieval Spanish poem. The congregation was aptly named because it is the westernmost member of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
• What we're excited about: "I think one of the things we're excited about is the increasing number of members of our congregation who participate in services and can lead the services," Littman said.
Particularly gratifying has been an increase in members who are able to read from the Hebrew scrolls, which contain the five books of Moses. Portions of the Torah must be read at weekly services, Littman said, but reading Hebrew is extremely difficult, she said, because, for this purpose, the language must be read in a chanting format and the Hebrew text has no vowels and no punctuation, so the reader's understanding must be quite advanced. "That's the way it was written thousands of years ago and it still is," Littman said. "What's even more exciting is that some of our young people do it."
• What's special about us: "I think what's special about us is the fact that we are lay-led," Littman said. Founding members decided from the beginning not to hire rabbis, but to instead, "focus energies on the religious services and on having our members become knowledgeable so that they can (lead the services) themselves," Littman said.
Also significant about Congregation Sof Ma'arav is that they are an egalitarian synagogue. Women read from the Torah and are an active part of weekly services; unusual in a conservative Jewish group. "We have full participation by women," Littman said.
• Contact: Call 373-3742, e-mail blittman@cades.com or visit sof-maarav.org.
If you would like to recommend a church, temple or faith organization for a Where We Worship profile, e-mail faith@honoluluadvertiser.com, call 535-8174 or write: Where We Worship, Faith Page, The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802.
