The Time a Helicopter Saved Our Minyan
Ever fast roped out of a helicopter to join Chabad for Rosh Hashanah?
Well, that's exactly what senior navy officer Ken wanted to do!
In late September of 2019, the USNS Comfort III reached our beautiful island with a small contingency of Jewish service members.
As part of a six-month deployment to Central/South America and the Caribbean, the navy ship was here to serve the medical needs of the Venezuelan refugees and the developing nations in the region.
As we were preparing for the holiday, we received notice that Hurricane Lorenzo (located approximately 450 miles off the coast heading back towards Ireland) was causing major sea swells around the Eastern Caribbean, making it unsafe for the Jewish sailors anchored off the coast to take the regular taxi boat to shore for Rosh Hashanah.
With this news, our Minyan count looked pretty grim, even for an optimistic Chabad rabbi.
A call to the non-Jewish chaplain stationed onboard yielded no results; he knew all about Rosh Hashanah, and while he was sympathetic, he explained that there’s nothing he can do, orders are orders, and no one is allowed off.
The following day, while preparing for the morning services, I looked out the window of our Shul and saw a group walking towards our home. The Jewish navy sailors had arrived. While the hospital ship had temporarily suspended all operations due to the sea swells, the Jewish sailors had managed to get permission to be the only sailors allowed off the ship via helicopter!
Following the sailors' arrival, several locals Jews arrived, then the many Jewish vacationers from the nearby hotels, and finally, almost an entire minyan of Jews from the Royal Caribbean cruise that had just docked at the Castries harbor.
Our synagogue was bursting at the seams; we scrambled for more chairs while some prayed on our comfy couches; midway through the service, it was standing room only.
What started off looking pretty grim ended up being an inspiring 48 hours of Rosh Hashanah spent with beautiful Jews from around the world.
May this upcoming Rosh Hashanah be one of miracles too!
