Our very first Shabbat did not allow us much time to prepare. We were only here for one full day before our first Friday night. Our first week in Jerusalem, we chose to attend an Orthodox synagogue called Yakar because it is so close to our apartment. It is known for beautiful singing and the unique way they arrange Saturday mornings. More on that later in the post. For our first visit, we chose the upstairs Kabbalat Shabbat because they daven more quickly than the downstairs one. On the first Saturday morning we walked all the way (about 40 minutes) to Ma'ayanot, a Conservative synagogue in Arnona. It was very warm and welcoming and we were even hosted in a home for kiddush lunch afterward. We saw Rabbi Adam Frank there, who is married to Lynne Weinstein, Debbie Weinstein's sister. Debbie is not only a member of Temple Beth Abraham but she is also one of the people I am studying Hebrew with in Oakland. Debbie, Judy Bloomfield, and I have been studying with our teacher Ditza Oren. I do absolutely notice how much I have learned from those sessions, and how I have been building upon it here, both on the street and in my Ulpan classes.
During Pesach, our second Shabbat, we attended Yedidya for Kabbalat Shabbat services, a modern Orthodox community that has a side by side mechitza and allows inclusion of women in the services. There were English speakers there so it felt very welcoming. It was a bit of a long walk, but a lovely service. For Saturday morning, we chose to give Moreshet Yisrael, the conservative shul at the Conservative Yeshiva. Unfortunately, it was a bit disappointing. The rabbi was away; we later found out that she has only taken off one or two Shabbatot in the span of several years! The students leading did a nice job, but the davening was a bit slow for Mark's taste. We shared the third aliyah, and I got to wear my new red lace tallit from Yad Lakashish. The turnout was very low but we did meet a former JTS Talmud professor and his wife who were visiting from New Jersey. They didn't have a kiddush, so we had a "light dairy lunch" at home.
https://masorti.org/moreshet-yisrael/
During Passover, we did not attend services on the first day and on the last day we were in Bet Shemesh and went to shul with Brenda and Steve. It is an Orthodox shul and the women sit upstairs. There is a lot of ruach, and it feels very welcoming because we are with our friends.
The third Shabbat we tried a new trend in Jerusalem, the musical renewal service called Nava Tehila. It takes place in the Kol Hanishama building, and we got there early but weren't allowed in. The rabbi asked us to wait outside so they could welcome us with a wall of musical sounds. There were several musicians and singers sitting in a circle and the congregants seats were all around the outside of that circle. There was a carpet in the middle of the circle where some children sat and played. Many people danced around the outside of the room and in the aisles. The service itself only consisted of 4 phrases/sentences from liturgy. Each one was sung and danced to for a significant amount of time. There was a lot of ruach and participants were very energetic. Between each song, the rabbi spoke some short words, using both Hebrew and English which was helpful. Afterward, though it was lovely and moving and I got to sing and participate and dance near my seat a bit, I didn't feel like I davened or prayed the service. For me, something was missing. But I can certainly see what others find appealing. For dinner that night, we were hosted by Alan and Dana Edelstein, parents of our congregant Jason. They are fantastic conversationalists and made us a delicious meal. It was wonderful. The next morning, we tried Saturday morning services at Yakar. We arrived a bit late and were surprised when five minutes later the service seemed to end. It turns out that was a break for a small oneg and some learning (shiur). They do two separate ones - one in Hebrew and one in English. We attended the English one of course. I enjoyed the discussion about lashon hara compared to kashrut and the importance of both what comes out of your mouth and what goes into your mouth. The service resumed and went for another 45 minutes to an hour. Then we went home for lunch.
Nava Tehila: http://www.navatehila.org/?lat=en
Fourth Shabbat we attended Beit Prat which is an egalitarian yeshiva program. It was an outdoor service which featured a mechitza for the first 5 rows and then mixed seating for the rest of the rows; all of the chairs were on the grass. There were a lot of English speaking guests attending. In the mechitza area were mostly young people and the yeshiva students/young adults. Standing around the outside were many more young adults. The numbers kept growing throughout the entire service. I had fun connecting with a visitor named Norman who used to be the Johns Hopkins University and Towson University Hillel Director. We shared a lovely Goucher moment praising Rabbi Josh Snyder of Goucher Hillel! The drash was given in both English and Hebrew and was about tzaraat and keeping ourselves open to other people. On Saturday, Mark went without me to an Orthodox shul called Beit Ohel Avraham because it is a similar name to our TBA. I decided to watch the TBA stream instead.
Beit Prat: https://beitprat.org/en-about-us/
Our fifth Shabbat we were in Tel Aviv. We attended one of the Conservative synagogues there called Kehilat Neve Tzedek. Again the rabbi was away so we didn't really get the full experience. It was a small group, there was a little singing, and they announced an upcoming Bat Mitzvah who also led the kiddush at the end. We thought there was going to be a potluck dinner afterward so we brought a cake. Alas, no such dinner existed. We just returned to apartment and had cake for dinner. :-) In the morning, Mark went to the other Conservative shul called Kehilat Sinai where they have couches and serve cocktails during the evening services. I stayed in to preserve my feet as it would have been a very long walk.
Kehilat Neve Tzedek: https://en.kehilanevetzedek.com/
Kehilat Sinai: https://www.facebook.com/kehilatsinai/
For our sixth Shabbat, we went to Tziyon where they started by singing all of Shir HaShirim. It was long. There were also two sermons, both in Hebrew. Maybe one of them was announcements but we didn't think so. We wanted to try it because it is a place where men and women sit together. It was not as welcoming as we would have liked. On Saturday, we had a wonderful time at Shira Chadasha in the German Colony. First of all, it is a warm and welcoming Orthodox place with a mechitza where women get to lead prayers, read Torah and Haftorah, and have aliyot. I had the honor of opening and closing the ark as well as taking the Torah out of the ark and giving it to the Torah carrier, and then taking it from her and putting it back into the ark at the end of the readings. That felt wonderful. I was thrilled to meet Barbara Sofer from Hadassah in person, and we also ran into Mark's Northwestern friend, Ruth Eberstein. The congregation was celebrating a baby naming with some enthusiastic singing and a little dancing as well! Our Oakland congregant who lives in San Diego now, Beth Sirull, was there with her group and it was great to see her. There was also a fantastic oneg lunch in the courtyard followed by some learning that we didn't attend.
Tziyon: https://www.facebook.com/KehilatZionJerusalem/
Chabad: https://www.chabadcyprus.com/
The ninth Shabbat was the day after Shavuot. Mark did an all night study session with Pardes Thursday night. Friday we met Barry and Lauren at Kol HaNishama for a Reform service. But they didn't have anything happening that we could find. Next door at Nitzanim, there was a family shabbat celebration with ice cream and they invited us to have some of their leftovers. :-) But no services worked out for us that night. Barry and Lauren came to our apartment for dinner. All I wrote in my journal about that is that it was yummy. :-) In the morning we decided to try the Italian synagogue in the City Center. It was very traditional Orthodox and the building looked exactly like the one in the Israel Museum (as I would find out later that day when we went there)! I was WAY upstairs behind a thick wood lattice mechitza and the air conditioning wasn't working so well. It was not pleasant for me. Mark enjoyed the service and noticed some of the differences of traditions. Barry and Lauren joined us for lunch at our apartment.
Pardes: https://www.pardes.org.il/
Kol Hanishama: https://www.en.kolhaneshama.org.il/
Nitzanim: https://kehilatnitzanim.org/ (not functioning at the moment, but the shul is!)
Italian Synagogue: https://www.moija.org/en
Our tenth Shabbat, Mark and I separated for Friday night services. He went to Orayta Yeshiva's celebration and last service with his young classmates. I went to Shira Chadasha because I love it there, and it's close, and I wanted to check it out before we brought out congregants there. A woman led the first parts of the service and a man led the second half. On Saturday, Mark went to the synagogue that is under the Kotel, in the tunnels under the Wall. He said the service itself was very traditional Ashkenazi and not too exciting, but the location and environment were a beautiful and meaningful place to be. I went back to Moreshet Yisrael to give it another chance. It was again very lightly attended and the Baal Koreh canceled at the last minute so the rabbi's husband read the entire Torah portion while the rabbi used hand motions to indicate the trope. I found that kinda cool. I was honored with an aliyah. Mark popped in for a few minutes to scope out the scene then went home to prepare our hosting lunch. Ronn and Joan come over for Shabbat lunch. We very much enjoyed the time together.
Orayta: https://www.orayta.org/
Wall Tunnel Synagogue: Shaarei Teshuvah Synagogue: https://thekotel.org/en/visitor_information/shaarei-tshuva-synagogue/
Eleventh Shabbat we chose to go back to an old favorite of Mark's, Kol Rina. The men's section has a lot of ruach and they dance around during the kabbalat shabbat nigunim. In the women's section, Naomi Rosen sat next to me; it's always so good to see her. The women's participation is minimal. On Saturday morning we tried Nitzanim. The mechitzah puts the women on both sides, raised up just a little bit. The services were fine, the sermon was in Hebrew, and no one really talked to me. I did see one of my Mah Jongg friends whose name is Natalie there so we got to chat after the service which was nice. We were supposed to host Susan Simon for lunch but her flight got cancelled and she didn't make it to Israel in time for Shabbat.
Kol Rina: https://www.facebook.com/groups/kolrina/
For our twelfth Shabbat, the congregational trip was here. On Friday, Mark led a service overlooking the old city and joined by four of our students who were on the trip. For shul, we chose Shira Chadasha for Friday night and Sod Siach for Saturday morning. About ten people joined us for Kabbalat Shabbat at Shira Chadasha, and just four came with us on Saturday morning. We did a big Havdalah ceremony on our balcony at the Dan Panorama hotel where we had a nice suite with a large outdoor balcony. Mark led the singing with his guitar. The students helped! Everyone enjoyed.
On our thirteenth Shabbat in Israel, we were hosted by Barbara Sofer and her husband. They had some lovely friends and family there. There was SO much yummy food; we contributed some fruit for dessert. Mark went to services at Shir Chadash (not to be confused with Shira Chadasah) and joined us late. I skipped services that evening. On Saturday, we went to Shir Chadash together. I enjoyed the moment when they brought the Torah to the mechitza and let the women use their prayerbooks to touch it and kiss. There were many English speaking congregants and everyone was very friendly. The kiddush lunch was small but nice; there was cholent and kugel.
Shir Chadash: https://shirhadashjerusalem.com/
Our fourteenth Shabbat featured three Friday night elements. First Mark went to hear the musical service early at Moreshet Yisrael at the Conservative Yeshiva. He loved it for the first five minutes. Such beautiful singing and music! Then, it became repetitive and he didn't enjoy as much the rest of the hour he spent there. Next, we went together to the Baka Community Center where in the gym there was a service. We were early so it seemed like no one was coming but it filled up quickly after the first part of the service. We were then hosted for dinner at Lynne Weinstein and Rabbi Adam Frank's home. It was fantastic. We met some very warm and nice people and they made us a fantastic vegetarian meal. One of the guests named John was even in the brand management department at Clorox after Mark was! On Saturday morning we went to Yakar again. Mark went earlier than I did. I got there just for the shiur and got to learn from the rabbi's mother in English which was lovely. We both left after the shiur; Mark had a young American visiting person to go meet, the daughter of one of his Hillsborough friends, and I didn't want to stay for davening in the women's section.
During our fifteenth Shabbat, I was feeling pretty sick. The combination of the heat and possibly too much of some kind of food made me very sick on Friday. I skipped the Friday night service but Mark went to Nitzanim without me. On Saturday morning, I felt a little better and was able to join Mark at the HUC Alumni service. There was a catered lunch afterwards. The service was lovely with a lot of singing led by several cantorial students and a drash by the head of the school.
HUC-JIR: https://huc.edu/about-huc/our-campuses/jerusalem/
This past week was our sixteenth Shabbat when Micah arrived! Hooray! Mark went to Yakar without me, and I stayed home to welcome Micah. On Saturday morning all three of us went to Yakar. Turns out there is no shiur during the services where Rosh Hodesh is announced. They have the shiur later in the day on those Shabbatot. It was a nice service, and there was a larger oneg than we usually see, which they had indoors and upstairs with air conditioning because it was so hot out. I enjoyed the Yerushalmi kugel and we all had a bite to eat. The big surprise was Shoshannah (Susan) Somerville approaching us and asking us if we were from Oakland. It had been so long since we'd seen her that I didn't even recognize her at first. It was so lovely chatting with her and catching up. She is very busy living and learning here in Jerusalem!
Next week for Shabbat we will be in Tel Aviv. Our final week here we will be back in Jerusalem. Who knows where we will decide to go!
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