The Prophet of the Andes by Graciela Mochkofsky

Author:Graciela Mochkofsky [Mochkofsky, Graciela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2022-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

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Maybe that was enough for God. But was it enough for the Chief Rabbinate?

Probably not. They had to prove they’d changed not only on the inside but also on the outside. They could no longer call themselves Israel, because Israel was the country they wanted to take them in. They had to form a new community, a community that would make their observance and desire to be Jews clear to all.

After much deliberation they chose the name Children of Moses, to signal their acceptance of the Torah’s commandments—but in Hebrew, not in Spanish, because it was Israel, or its Chief Rabbinate, whom they were addressing.

Bnei Moshe.

In mid-Sivan of the year 5746—June 1986 in Peru—they drafted the new organization’s founding document.[16] The Bnei Moshe wanted to “build a group that was compact in every aspect” so as to ensure “spiritual-material benefit to each of its members, under steadfast and proper ideological guidance.” The main objectives were to “praise our Lord in the best way possible and educate ourselves, elders and children alike, in the divine doctrine and in all realms possible.”

Leadership was formally democratic, as it had been in Israel of God. Everything was to be decided by majority, but any resolution could be “invalidated in the event that it went against the Torah, [the] Shulchan Aruch,” or sought “to do harm.” They still called one another brother and sister; a vote by all members would elect the executive committee. At the first election, held one winter night, Segundo’s son-in-law Pepe Rengifo was elected president. Segundo, modestly, ran for and was elected spokesperson. Two other family members also ended up on the executive committee: Segundo’s son Josué was voted second spokesperson, and his daughter Eva became treasurer.

There were ten “principles of the community,” as there were tablets of the Law given to Moses, which established general moral order: constancy, punctuality, mutual aid, order, responsibility, effort, discipline, respect, organization, and tolerance.

In order to join Bnei Moshe, one had not only to accept Mosaic Law but to “love it, be advanced or moderately so in knowledge of the Torah and practice it to the greatest degree possible,” enjoy an honorable reputation, abide by the group’s agreements, be over thirteen years of age, and pay a monthly fee. “Attending synagogue on the three high holy days” and observing the Sabbath each week were also required.

As per the Shulchan Aruch: “It is the duty of all men to choose a synagogue in which to pray permanently and select within it a regular seat for worship.” This mandate occasioned a new dilemma: the Bnei Moshe had no synagogue. But why build one if they were preparing to move to Israel? It was essential to consider what might happen to it once they were no longer there. A synagogue was a sacred place. What if someone turned it into a chicken coop? They could never allow that: if they built one, they had to be responsible for its future. The only solution was to ensure that the synagogue remain in Jewish hands; only Jews would care for it.

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