Torah Portion:	Toldot
Synagogue:	St Kilda Shule, traditional orthodox
Walking time from home:	A little over 20 mins
Reason for going:	International guest speaker
Kiddush:	Large, plentiful

There are certain people you meet in your life who are special, and there are others who are truly remarkable. This Shabbat morning I went to St Kilda shule. It is one of the old traditional shules in town, has had a recent renovation making it even more beautiful than before, and has very eloquent and pleasant rabbi. But the reason I went was because the guest speaker this week was introduced as being a truly great individual, and it quickly became evident that this was true.

Dr Rick Hodes is a Jewish American medical doctor who first travelled to Ethiopia in the late 1980s. He was instrumental in looking after many of the Jewish Ethiopians who went to Israel as part of Operation Solomon in 1991, but felt such a kinship to the people of Ethiopia that he is still there. In his time in the country he has treated mostly Christian and Muslim patients under the banner of the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) – a global Jewish humanitarian organisation – and has been able to diagnose and treat conditions that other doctors have overlooked.

In fact, over the years he has adopted five children (who are all adults now) because the only way to treat them was to bring them back to America under his medical insurance, but American health insurance precludes foreign patients from being treated, so he adopted them as his own children. It was however unsustainable to keep adopting new patients and bringing them to America, so he assisted in the founding of a specialist hospital.

The impressive feats that Dr Hodes has been involved in are too numerous to mention, but what is even more remarkable than his achievements is his attitude and humility. During his presentation on Shabbat morning, he talked about his extraordinary life across Africa and other parts of the world, and also spoke of his devotion to Judaism. Whilst he often works on Shabbat and even on festivals, he still makes time to pray and participate in services when he can. One time when asked by a non-Jewish patient about the essence of Judaism, in his unassuming way he said that the Jewish people were created to be examples to the world of three things: honesty, morality and kindness.  To me, Dr Hodes is the embodiment of all three traits, and it is because I make a point of going to different shules that I was able to hear him and meet him. Though the truth is that I actually first met him a couple of hours before Shabbat randomly in a supermarket with his host. Nonetheless, it was great to hear his story and to chat with him in depth after his presentation.

As it happened, I was at St Kilda shule on a special day, for not only was Dr Hodes the guest speaker, but it was also the Shabbat that the shule honoured their Bar and Bat Mitzvah students with a special presentation at the kiddush, as well as their choir. As such, the kiddush was a little larger and more scrumptious than normal, and people stayed around longer than normal.

The Torah portion of this week begins with the birth of Jacob and Esau – the two biblical progenitors of what we now call the Jewish people and the Muslims (though Judaism technically begins with Abraham). From the outset it was clear that Esau was the rebellious one, and thus some of the commentators don’t quite understand why Esau got as much love as Jacob, or maybe even more. Meeting Dr Hodes in a such a stunning sanctuary reiterated once again why it is not only possible but necessary to love everyone equally and to treat everyone with the same level of dignity. After all, that is what Isaac did, that is what Dr Hodes does and that is what we should all do.