Jacob Ballas
Eliyahu Shalome was born in 1886 in Amara, Iraq.He arrived in Singapore in 1926 to take charge of the Magen Avot Synagogue and the Jewish community in general, which then comprised about 1,500 people. He was fondly known as Imalim (teacher) Eliyahu. At that time, the Meyer synagogue and the Talmud Torah were run by Hazan Ezra Meir.
Eliyahu Shalome was a distinguished man and his fine beard reminded one of King George V. He was soft spoken and never lost his temper. I personally knew him well. We lived close by Short Street/Wilkie Road. He was provided with a house at 2 Short Street, which still stands today. His home was always open to everyone and he taught many boys the Torah in preparation for their Bar Mitzvah. Women with chickens to slaughter called at the back door of his house at any time of the day and he was always ready to help. Eliyahu Shalome was the Hazan, the Shohet, the Mohel, the teacher, and he performed all the community's rituals. He was present at every occasion to share happy and sad moments. He was truly "a man of all seasons".
His melodious chanting of prayers is still remembered by the congregation he led for nearly 16 years, until his death on 5 February 1941, at the age of 54. The community was saddened by the early demise of Eliyahu Shalome and felt immensely the void left by one who had served the community devotedly all those years. There was no replacement for Eliyahu Shalome until after the war.
Eliyahu Shalome was survived by his late wife and three daughters. The elder of two sons, Jonah, now lives with his family in Haifa and the younger, Ezekiel, reside with his wife and children in Sydney. One of Jonah's son is a Rabbi-cum- teacher at Migdal Or Educational Centre which rehabilitates children from underprivileged homes. Mrs Hilda Isaac, Eliyahu Shalome's niece, was brought up by her uncle in Singapore; she was married to the late Aaron Isaac.
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Solomon Raphael was born in Baghdad in 1857 and arrived in Singapore at the age of 14 in 1871.
He was the Shamash of the Magen Avot Synagogue under many Hazanim such as Sherida, Eliyahu Shalome, and Rabbi Shababo, from 1886 until 1963, when he retired at the age of 106.
Sholomo Bekhore, as we used to call him, was a great human being. His small build belied his energetic involvement in the day-to-day running of the synagogue as well as the festivities and the auctioning of the Aliyot during the High Holidays. He took a keen interest in the affairs of the community.Sholomo was always there for us and was with us during our happy and sad occasions, making arrangements for marriages, Brit-Milas, Bar-Mitzvahs and funerals.
After the death of his first wife, Flora, in 1900, with whom he had two sons, Sholomo married Sally, from Calcutta, in 1917, and lived with her in Short Street where most of the Jews lived at that time.
During the war they were interned for some time at the Sime Road Camp, and after the war was over, they moved to the Synagogue grounds (Where Karu is Now), when they found their house accupied by a Chinese family.
Both Sholomo's sons died at the age of 47. The elder died in the war and was buried at Penang in 1943. The younger died of bronchial pneumonia in 1947. Sholomo then took on the responsibility of looking after his daughters-in-law and grandchildren.
His daughter-in-law Aziza was the cook at the Sir Mannaseh Meyer Talmud Torah until her retirement to Israel. Aziza looked after Sholomo like her own father during the last two years of his life. He died in November 1965 at the age of 108.
I knew Solomon Raphael personally and remember him well. He could almost recite the five books of Torah by heart and I recall fondly how in the late 1950s when he was over 100 years old, he grew a new tooth! The whole community loved and respected him.
He left behind many grandchildren who live in Tiberias in Israel. The only grandson who lives in Singapore is Maurice Raphael.
[Extracts from Shalom (Singapore) Nos. 6-7].