Rating: 4/5- Friday nights are wonderful and full of energy, Saturday mornings are rather lacking
Services Attended: Friday Night and Saturday Morning
Date: November 14, 2014 and November 15th, 2014
Observance: Orthodox
Time of Service: Mincha 20 min after candle lighting on Friday, and 7:30am-10:45am Saturday Morning, children’s book reading following
Mechitza: Right-Left, with shtender in middle in front
Women: No leadership
Meals: No mention
Frequency: Every Friday Night, Saturday Morning, Holidays
Family friendly service: Extremely. Nice courtyard for kids to play outside, and following services there’s story time
Sermon: All Hebrew
Review:
Friday Night: Friday night services were full of energy and youthful exuberance. The place was packed, and filled with young people and families. Raz leads his own tunes for Kabbalat Shabbat (which are similar to Carlebach in style), and everyone joins in, singing and dancing at length at times. Ma’ariv was more typical Carlebach, and just as wonderful. Raz has a quiet demeanor, but a beautiful voice that allows the congregation to join in prayer.
Saturday Morning: Twice I’ve been to Raz’s on Saturday morning, and I’ve been disappointed both times, especially after seeing what it is on Friday Nights. They set up less chairs expecting a smaller turnout, and they certainly get that; in the Torah Service, they maybe had 20 men and 10 women. Between this and the fact that Saturday services are lay led (still good, but not Raz), the room lacked energy and general enthusiasm for prayer. Saturday morning services start early at Raz’s, so if you’re a morning person it’s great, and you’re done before 11. P’sukei D’zimra is probably around 1 hour in length, but I didn’t get there that early. After the service, the multitude of children gathered around the front for story time, and there was a small kiddush afterwards.
Friday nights are really wonderful, and if you’re a young person looking to meet that special someone, this is the minyan for you. However, unless you have young children, I wouldn’t bother going on Saturday mornings.
Raz’s Minayn (VaAni Tefillah) is located near 34 Menahem Ussishkin Street, Sha’arei Hesed, Jerusalem. It’s located through a gate which opens to a compound of school buildings. The gate should have a sign that says “Kehillat VaAni Tefillah here”, but in Hebrew. Enter through the more southern gate (probably the only one open). On your left, you’ll see a building that says Beit Bubis, with a garden in front of it. VaAni Tefillah is located in the second building on the right.
