One of the largest Bene-Israel Indian Jews aliyah to Israel, the Holy Land, occurred in 1970. Some of the immigrants came to Tirat Carmel, located at the foothills of Mount Carmel on the western side between Dainya neighborhood in Haifa and Kfar Galim on the seashore, near the Haifa-Tel Aviv old road, Highway 4.
In 1970 the Indian community in Tirat Carmel comprised of about fifteen to twenty families only. Since then the community increased, some immigrants from later years, some of them came from other cities in the country and some are new generation who decided to build their home in this city. Today the Indian community in Tirat Carmel has grown to over seventy five families.
The new beautiful hekhal built in the year 2014
Address
Kalaniot, Road No. 19,
Tirat Carmel
Contact Number
Timings
Committee
Chairman
Mr. Moshe Menashe Nawgaonkar
Secretary
Mr. Abraham Shlomo Shirgaonkar
Treasurer
Mr. Shlomo Yosef Talkar
Assistant Treasurer
Mr. Reuven Shimshon Kandlekar
Auditor
Mrs. Merab Yermiah Digorkar
The contribution of following members of the community in the establishment of this synagogue is worth mentioning:
Late Mr. Isaac Kurgavkar
Late Mr. Samuel Bhonkar
Late Mr. Shimon Pezarkar
Late Mr. Shimshon Kandlekar
At that time there was no synagogue for the Indian community and so in order to preserve the customs, traditions and culture of our community the High Holiday Prayers were conducted in the Histadrut Hall for about six years.
On 10th May 1977, the Indian Jewish community lost one of her heroic sons Late Mr. Shlomo son of Daisy and Abraham Shirgaonkar. He was in the parachute brigade who lost his life at the age of nineteen in a helicopter mishap (an Israeli Air Force Sikorsky CH-53 Yas'ur helicopter crashed during an exercise in the Jordan Valley, all 54 on board lost their life, including the 10-member flight crew).
The parents of the heroic son pressurized the Ministry of Defense, with the help of then the Head of the Municipality of Tirat Carmel Mr. Aharon Cadouri and active members of the community to get a place for the synagogue for the Indian Jewish community in the memory of the fallen soldier. Finally, the local municipality was advised to provide a synagogue which was under construction at that time in the locality where the Late soldier's family resided. The synagogue is devoted in the Loving Memory of the brave soldier Late Shlomo Shirgaonkar and was named "Hekhal Shlomo Synagogue" which is located at Kalaniot, Road No. 19, P.O. Box 7141 , Tirat Carmel.
The family with the help of the community, organises a basketball tournament that is played among the teams comprising of Indian Jewish players from across the country. At the end of the tournament each participant is awarded a medal for participation and the winning team receives a championship Cup. This tournament was organised every year in the memory of the soldier.
In the year 1991 an extension to the synagogue was constructed which added about fifty percent to the synagogue area with the generous donation from the local community only, without touching the synagogues budget. As of today, the area of the synagogue is about 200 square meters.
Since the inception of the synagogue it is managed and maintained by the Indian Jewish community members together with the fallen soldier's family. Everyone contributes his portion with full heart and soul to the synagogue voluntarily. The synagogue activities are run by local donations only.
The prayers in the synagogue and the community occasions are mainly conducted by the following active members of the community:
Mr. Yosef Yehuda Talkar,
Mr. Yosef Rahamim Kasukar,
Mr. Aharon Shmuel Shlomo (Bhonkar) and
Mr. Avner Abraham Medhekar (reads the Torah and blows the Shofar during festival).
For reading the Torah, at present, there are six young boys around fourteen years old, which is a great help to Mr. Avner Abraham Medhekar, who taught them the reading of the Torah according to the Indian Jewish tradition. When Mr. Avner is out of the city, the new generation reads the Torah all by themselves. Hope, many more young boys of the new generation will take interest continue to keep alive our Indian tradition in the years to come.
The synagogue is attended by non-Indian Jews from the surrounding area and also celebrate their occasions together.
A very emotional and unique function was held at on 31st August 2010 when the certificates of appreciation were awarded to veteran members of the Indian community of Tirat Carmel - Mr. Yosef Yehuda Talkar and Mr. Abraham Shlomo Shirgaonkar. The function was presided over by Rabbi David Azulai - Member of Knesseth, Mr. Arieh Tal - Mayor of Tirat Carmel, Rabbi Barukh Tolidianu - the cheif Rabbi of Tirat Carmel. The ceremony to honor the veterens for their contribution the was attended by a large number of community members. It was a wonderful and commendable gesture by the synagogue committee.
