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Rabbi Still Serves Community of Christians and Jews More Than 100 Years After Death.

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Gravesite of Rabbi Imanuel Muyal was built with walls around it to be separate from Сatholic cemetery
Gravesite of Rabbi Imanuel Muyal was built with walls around it to be separate from Сatholic cemetery
A Jewish community of about 850 people located in Manaus, Brazil worships Rabbi Shalom Imanuel Muyal, a Rabbi who came over from Morocco in the early 1900’s to support a growing Jewish community eager to find fortune in the burgeoning rubber trade.

When Rabbi Muyal died in 1910 from yellow fever he was laid to rest in what is now St. John the Baptist Cemetery because there was no Jewish cemetery at the time. Local Christians in the Amazonian city have made it a tradition to turn up at Muyal’s burial spot in the Saint John the Baptist Cemetery to pray for miracles. When their prayers are answered, they put up small signs of thanks. Today, there are dozens of those signs on the small walls surrounding the tomb. “Many people, both Jews and Christians, still come and visit the grave,” said Nailza de Castro, who works at the administration office in the cemetery.

Manaus began its existence as a Portuguese fort, founded in the late 17th century on the spot where the Rio Negro flows into the planet’s largest river by volume, the Amazon River. As Moroccan Jews made their way to the jungle in the 1800’s they were inevitably affected with jungle illnesses such as yellow fever. When Rabbi Muyal himself became ill no one would treat him for fear of getting ill themselves. Amongst the frightened community there was one person, Cota Israel, who cared for the Rabbi until his passing in 1910. However, soon after his passing, the locals discovered a marvelous phenomenon – Cota Israel,  suddenly displayed an amazing ability to manipulate people’s limbs and rid them of their strains and pains. “Where did you get this wonderful talent?” people asked her. “Rav Shalom Immanuel gave me a special blessing before his death,” She said, “I got the power from the rabbi, who was a saint”, “Now I’m able to treat people because of him.” said Anne Benchimol, the former president of the Jewish community in Manaus and now its director of education. Jews also visit Muyal’s resting place, which has a Star of David engraved at the top and Hebrew inscriptions around it.

This was enough to trigger an interest in the departed tzaddik and people suffering from illness or unsolvable problems began praying at his grave. Every time a prayer was answered, the rav’s reputation soared higher until it mushroomed into a legend that has not abated. Testimony to Rav Shalom Immanuel’s healing powers is provided by a veneer of plaques plastered over the sides of his grave as well as his title – Santo Judeu Milagreiro de Manaus – the Holy Jewish Miracle Man of Manaus.

Rav Shalom Immanuel’s kiruv work was not in vain as not all the Jews of the Brazilian jungle forgot their heritage. Just this year, a Yerushalayim-based organization printed the special Ner Shabbat siddur, based upon the unique nusach of Sefardi Jews who had settled in the Brazilian Amazon basin, one century ago.

Jewish people, as is tradition, leave rocks on graves, however Raimundo da Silva, a caretaker on the grounds who has been working at the cemetery for 28 years, says Christians have also been known to leave rocks in the hopes of boosting their chances of having a miracle answered by the “Jewish saint.”

Benchimol said there have been attempts to move Muyal’s remains back to Israel, or at least to the Jewish part of the cemetery, which was created a few years after the rabbi died. The leaders of community have always decided against it. “We were worried that if we would take him, the Christians would be, not mad, but a little disappointed,” Benchimol said. “He is our ambassador, even though he is dead.”

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