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If Rabbi David Kunin of Saratoga’s Congregation Beth David had delivered just one Torah scroll to the tiny Indonesian Jewish community of Manado, dayenu. That would have been enough. 

But it was the fourth Torah scroll he has brought to one of the far-flung, isolated Jewish communities of the Muslim-majority island nation over the past 10 years. And that is extraordinary. 

“The people are so excited about being Jewish and about Jewish learning. It invigorates us every time we go,” the Conservative rabbi told J. in early August, shortly after returning from his monthlong visit to several of the Jewish communities there.

Yes, there are Jews in Indonesia, despite the fact that Judaism is not one of the six faiths recognized by the government and the nation has no formal relations with Israel. 

The first Jews probably arrived in the 17th century with European explorers, though there were never more than a few thousand of them. Today Kunin estimates there are between 500 and 1,000 Jews, up from a nadir of 20 or so in 1997. There’s been a resurgence of interest, he said, with some people coming forward after newly discovering their Jewish roots and others choosing to convert.

The Torah scroll he brought in July was from a Conservative congregation in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, that recently closed its doors. With the help of the Jewish Community Legacy Project, which finds new homes for Torah scrolls from declining congregations, Kunin and his wife, Shelley Kunin, transported the scroll first to California and then to Manado, on the island of Sulawesi. There it was welcomed by the local Jewish community, which is “really just one extended family,” the rabbi said. 

There was singing and dancing and much feasting that Friday night, he reported. In a private home that serves as the synagogue, the tallest men in the community held the corners of a tallit to create a chuppah, greeting the Torah as one would a bride per Jewish tradition. Then it was passed from Kunin to Rabbi Benjamin Meijer Verbrugge to the community’s leader, and then from person to person all through the congregation, which ranged from an 88-year-old matriarch to a 3-year-old girl.

“The Manado community is small … yet it has the enthusiasm and dedication of a much larger community,” Kunin wrote in one of his blog posts chronicling this summer’s visit. “Everyone joined in the singing of all the prayers from the psalms and songs of Kabbalat Shabbat (again echoing the theme of welcome), through till Adon Olam and the prayers of Maariv, the evening service.”

He added, “We may have brought a sefer Torah to Manado, but the real Torah was here long before we arrived.” 

Kunin, 63, who joined Beth David last summer as its senior rabbi, found out about the Jews of Indonesia a decade ago when he was serving as a rabbi in Tokyo (he’s also served as a rabbi in Scotland and Canada, among other places). At a rabbinic conference of the Union for Progressive Judaism of Australia, New Zealand and Asia, he met Meijer Verbrugge, a native Indonesian of Belgian Jewish ancestry who was trying to drum up interest in his country’s Jews among Western Jewish organizations, to no avail.

The Union, however, agreed to send two rabbis as mentors. Kunin made his first trip to the island nation with Rabbi Shoshana Kaminsky of Adelaide, Australia.

The two worked with the Jews registered with the United Indonesian Jewish Community, formed in 2009 and led by Meijer Verbrugge, known as Rabbi Ben. Kunin estimates about 200 to 300 Jews are registered members, most living in Manado, Jakarta, Ambon and Timika — the four Jewish communities that have received a Torah scroll through Kunin. A smaller Orthodox community near Manado in the town of Tondano, led by Rabbi Yaakov Baruch, draws 20 to 50 local Jews to its services in the only synagogue building left standing in Indonesia.  

This summer, Kunin visited five of the communities, including Sentani, on Papua Indonesia about an hour’s flight from Timika. There, community leader Ibu Yehudit (“Ibu” is an honorific meaning “Mother”) led the congregation in chanting from Timika’s Torah scroll, which Kunin brought with him for his visit this July.

”This reading allowed the Sentani community to exhibit wonderful skills,” Kunin wrote. “On the first night Ibu Yehudit chanted from the scroll, while others from the community chanted behind her, and on the second a group of very talented pre-b’nai mitzvah children likewise chanted beautifully from the scroll. The small simple room was filled to the brim with our Sentani family, everyone joyfully celebrating the unique presence of a Sefer Torah in their midst.”

On his visits, Kunin always oversees lifecycle events. This time there were adult b’nai mitzvah and a wedding in Sentani, as well as eight b’nai mitzvah and another wedding in Jakarta. On Seram Island in Maluku province, he performed seven conversions using the “forest mikvah,” a fast-moving and distant river.

Since Oct. 7, Kunin reported, the Jews in Indonesia have taken some precautions. Meijer Verbrugge took down the public website for the United Indonesian Jewish Community and has asked community members not to post about Jewish activities. There have been pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Jakarta, and isolated attacks against Jews.

But still, interest in the island nation’s Jewish legacy persists. Many churches and other non-Jewish buildings boast Stars of David or menorah images, which no one can explain. And Kunin sometimes encounters Indonesians who believe they have Jewish ancestors. 

Making the trips isn’t easy. But Kunin is committed to keeping them up. 

“The community values the ongoing mentorship, and I feel an obligation to them,” he said. “We’ve developed a nice relationship. Even this trip with 11 flights, it was amazing.”