SHUL REVIEW: Kol Rina (aka the Bomb Shelter Shul) (Friday and Saturday Morning)

Rating: 5/5- Beautifully sung Carlebach service that gave me chills more than once

Services Attended: Saturday Morning and Friday Night
Date: September 20, 2014 and October 17th, 2014

Observance: Orthodox
Time of Service: Mincha 20min after candlelighting on Friday, and 8:30am-11:15am Saturday Morning
Mechitza: Behind men’s section, shtender towards back of men’s section
Women: No leadership
Meals: Meals offered at least for Friday night, no mention on Saturday
Frequency: Every Friday Night, Saturday Morning, Holidays
Family friendly service: While there were families, there weren’t too many, and were not a focus by any means
Sermon: Sometimes all in Hebrew, sometimes in Hebrew and English. Announcements in Hebrew and English

Review:

Friday Night: Friday night services were what I’ve come to expect from Kol Rina. The shul was packed and people came ready to sing and dance. Tunes are Carlebach. Great energy, and great way to bring in Shabbat. They were also able to set me up with a wonderful meal afterwards. See below for my original full review.

Saturday Morning: In 2008, when I was on Alexander Muss High School in Israel, I went to a shul that we referred to as the “Bomb Shelter Shul”. It was honestly a life changing experience, as I had never davened like that before, and I unfortunately didn’t know it’s actual name. That was until a few days ago, when a friend pointed me to Kol Rina. My hopes were high that this was indeed the shul I was looking for, and I was not to be disappointed.

Upon arriving, just outside the shul, I was flagged down by a man asking if I would be the 10th man for their minyan. I agreed, and asked to which shul he belonged. Kol Rina, he said. What a lovely coincidence. I admit I was a little concerned, as I had showed up some 20 minutes late, and they had no minyan yet? As you’ll find out, this was the only reason I didn’t rate them a 6/5.

As I walked down the stairs and into the shul, an immediate sense of nostalgia and recognition overtook me. I had finally found it! And it was not to disappoint. The Carlebach style minyan was led beautifully, and those who were there joined in such a way that I felt like I was part of a live choir, supporting a shaliach tzibur with made up harmonies on the spot. I can’t really describe the feeling other than to say you have to experience it yourself. At various points I even got shivers from the beauty of the davening. Had the room been full, and not half full, I think I would have given this minyan a 6/5. In addition, the women’s section was rather lacking, both in voice and in numbers.

Simchat Torah: I attended Kol Rina erev Simchat Torah, and it was great. Lots of singing and dancing, and it went on quite a long time. It was pretty packed to start, but around the 3rd Hakafah people started to clear out for dinner, which meant there was more room for dancing. One of the Torahs was passed back to the women’s section each hakafah so they could dance with a Torah as well.

For those that love Carlebach, singing, and harmony, there’s not a better weekly Shabbat minyan in Jerusalem.

Kol Rina is located at 26 Be’er Sheva Street, Nachlaot, Jerusalem. Known also as the Bomb Shelter Shul, it has a surface level entrance and goes straight down a flight of stairs. There is a common area with couches, and then the left door is for women and the right for men. For more information, visit their website.

SHUL REVIEW: The Kotel (Friday)

Rating: It’s the Kotel. What more needs to be said?

Service Attended: Friday Night Services
Date: September 19, 2014

Time of Service: Services start at candle lighting, and new minyanim start every few minutes
Mechitza: Men’s and Women’s sections, separate services
Women: Lead women’s services
Meals: YES! See special section below review
Frequency: All services, every day
Family friendly service: Definitely friendly towards families

Review: The Kotel. The Western Wall. The Wailing Wall. All of these are names for perhaps the single most holy place on earth for Jews. Jews from all backgrounds gather daily to daven at the place where the Beit HaMikdash, the Holy Temple, once stood.

Upon arriving at the Kotel (men on the left side, women on the right), I grabbed one of the free Kotel Siddurim and immediately began to wander around looking for a minyan to daven with. I love Kabbalat Shabbat, so I like to go around to a few different minyanim and daven KS a few times before proceeding to Ma’ariv (call me a heretic). Another of my favorite parts of Kotel davening are the soldiers that show up in large groups and have their own minyanim. They start with a spirited ruach session filled with singing and dancing, things like Am Yisrael Chai, and proceed into typical davening (the soldier minyan I davened with for a while was using Carlebach style tunes). It’s amazing to see Haredi Jews singing and dancing and praying alongside soldiers, in a way that is uniquely Israeli.

Whether you’re in Jerusalem for a week or a year, the Kotel is a place where you have to daven on a Friday night at least once in your lifetime.

Meals: If you’re looking to be set up with a family for a nice Shabbos meal after your davening, then Jeff Seidel is your go to guy. If you’ve heard of someone going to the Kotel and receiving a famous “Kotel Meal”, chances are Jeff is the one who set them up. If you have the foresight early in the week, you can contact Jeff by email or by phone at (02)-628-2634 to give him a heads up that you’re looking to be set up for a meal, or you can find him at the Kotel on Friday Night and introduce yourself.

At some point in the night (it was 7:20pm the week I went), he’ll tell you to meet just outside of the men’s section in the plaza. You know you’re in the right place if dozens of 20 and 30 year olds are standing around in a circle waiting. Once there, you wait around patiently until Jeff places you with a family, and from there you’re home free with a fantastic Shabbos meal. Oh, and don’t forget to thank him on your way out.

If you’re looking for Jeff, he looks like this:

To find out more information about Jeff Seidel or shabbat meals, visit www.jeffseidel.com or www.getshabbat.com.

SHUL REVIEW: Yakar- Downstairs Minyan (Friday and Saturday)

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Rating: 5/5- Beautiful harmony that is perfectly resonant in their space

Service Attended: Friday Night and Saturday Morning Services
Date: Septemeber 26th/27th, 2014

Slogan: Authentic open-minded Judaism, rooted in the riches of tradition and relevant to the issues of the present day
Type of Service: Orthodox with Carlebach tunes
Time of Service: Friday- Begins 30 min after sundown. Saturday- 8:15-11:30, with kiddush and class ~9:15 and Torah Reading around 10.
Mechitza: Front-back, shaliach tzibur in the back of men’s section
Women: No leadership
Meals: No mention of setting anyone up for meals
Frequency: Every Friday night and Saturday morning
Sermon: Friday- Sermon in Hebrew by Rabbi. Saturday– There were two breakout shiur options (short learning sessions) in the middle of the service led by congregants, one in Hebrew and one in English, instead of a Rabbi’s sermon.

Review:

Friday- I didn’t find the downstairs minyan at Yakar to be quite as friendly as its upstairs counterpart, but I enjoyed the davening more. Shabbat began as we were ushering Rosh Hashana out, so they did an abbreviated Kabbalat Shabbat, which was still really nice. The room reverberated from the power of the harmony, and although the shaliach tzibur was quiet, he had a great voice and set the tone for the packed room. The tunes were a little slow at times, so if you want a more upbeat minyan, check out the upstairs minyan. There are very few places however that can beat the feeling in that room.

Saturday- Saturday’s service had very much the same feeling, but was lacking a little bit in participation from the previous night. I think this was due to the difficulty of singing with the particular service leaders for that day (they were in and out of tune), but it was still a really nice service, and I gave it a 5/5 for its potential.

Before the Torah Service, we took a 10 minute break for Kiddush and a 30 minute break where we were given two choices of shiurim (classes) to attend instead of a sermon, one in English and one in Hebrew. The shiur I attended was very well done and interesting.

Both of Yakar’s minyanim seem to be great, and you can find pretty much anything you want there, making it one of my favorite congregations in Jerusalem.

Yakar is located at 10 Halamed-Hey Street, Jerusalem. The entrance is actually off of Kovshei Katamon Street. The women’s entrance is immediately to the right inside the gate, and the men’s is around the back past the stairs. For more information, visit their website.

Let’s Talk About Israel – Parshat Toldot

Torah: Let’s Talk About Israel

A few weeks ago, we toured Masada, the impressive Herodian fortress made famous as the last stand of the Jews in the Jewish-Roman War. At this site, we discussed three different narratives of Masada: the narrative of the rebels as told by Josephus, the story the archeology tells, and the story of how Masada became a symbol for the modern State of Israel. This later story, which served as a rallying cry for early Zionism (“Shenit M’zadah lo tipol” – The second Masada shall not fall, using Masada as a metaphor for Israel), has begun to go out of fashion as Israel has settled into statehood. This vision of Israel hanging on by a thread, however, is still very prevalent in American Jewish circles. The idea that due to Israel’s fragility we cannot criticize it or hope for a better future for all inhabitants of the land has created a relationship with Israel for many young Jews that is impossible to sustain. To truly have a deep relationship, we must be able to sit down and talk with each other when there are problems.

Rav Naftali Zvi Yehudah Berlin (1816-1893), also known as the Netziv, comments on the difference in the relationship of Isaac and Rebecca from the rest of our ancestors. Rebecca’s “relationship with Isaac was not the same as that between Sarah and Abraham or Rachel and Jacob. When they had a problem they were not afraid to speak about it. Not so with Rebecca” (Commentary to Gen. 24: 65). This lack of communication had dire results for the family. Isaac was incensed at Jacob’s betrayal. Esau resolved to kill Jacob after his father’s death. Rebecca, in fear, had to send her favorite child away for dozens of years. The family was torn apart in a way that would never be repaired.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks comments that “such is us the human price we pay for a failure to communicate. The Torah is exceptionally candid about such matters, which is what makes it so powerful a guide to life: real life, among real people with real problems. Communication matters. In the beginning God created the natural world with words: ‘And God said: Let there be.’ We create the social world with words. The Targum translated the phrase in Genesis 2, ‘And man became a living soul’ as ‘and man became a speaking soul.’ For us, speech is life. Life is relationship. And human relationships only exist because we can speak. We can tell other people our hopes, our fears, our feelings and thoughts.” (Rabbi Jonathan Sacks)

The same is true when it comes to our relationship with Israel. In order for the Israeli project to be sustainable for generations, we must learn how to express our hopes and our fears. We must have a conversation about the values with which we approach our relationship to Israel, and we each must put forth a vision for the society that we wish the Jewish State to be. And no matter where we may be, we must work to make that vision a reality. But it only begins when we can have a candid conversation with each other, listening, pushing, and critiquing, out of a deep love and desire for our State to be the best it can be. The warning in our texts is clear: If we are afraid to speak about our problems, the consequences could be far worse.

T’fillah: And the Blessing One Spoke (Baruch She’amar)

As we saw above, communication, or rather lack of communication, plays a central role in this week’s parasha. It’s the words that we speak, or choose not to, that can have immense power, and we see this in the Beginning. The entire universe was created with “And God spoke: Let there be…”. All that is in this world, all the stuff that life is made up of, was created from these initial words. Baruch She’amar v’haya haolam, Blessing be the one who spoke and the world was. Every morning we begin the P’sukei D’zimra service with this awesome statement. Harkening back to those original words, it’s an important reminder that the words we’re about to offer in praise, in prayer and throughout the day, can both be blessings and curses. Each word that comes from our mouths has the potential to create and destroy worlds. When you come to this prayer in the morning t’fillot, consider using it as a natural stop and focus on your voice. Be cognisant of how it feels as the vocal chords vibrate, creating voice. And let the power give us pause, each word emanating intentionally from our mouth.

You can view a PDF of this d’var here.

Sam Blustin is an alumnus of the Conservative Yeshiva (2014-2015) and a current Rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary (Class of 2020). You can view more divrei Torah at www.samblustin.com or contact Sam directly at samblustin@gmail.com.

Parshat Vayishlach – To Be Both Israel and Jacob | Elohei Avoteinu

Torah: To Be Both Israel and Jacob

“Then Elohim said to him, ‘Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not always be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.’” (Bereshit 35:10)

Throughout the Torah, we see multiple names used for Jacob, even after God changes his name to Israel. In the parasha, “although God was about to give Jacob the additional name of Israel,” Ramban says, “God told him that he would continue to be called Jacob.” From this point on, Jacob would be referred to by both names. So which name is used when? “From that time onward, the name Jacob would be used for matters pertaining to physical and mundane matters,” says Rabbeinu Bachya (1255 – 1340), “while the name Israel would be used for matters reflecting the spiritual role of the Patriarch and his descendants.” This distinction between names is a curious one, as we know in Chassidut that the purpose of the Jew is to bring the Divine into the mundane, everyday moments. We strive to have God-consciousness in every moment. So how can we understand the different usage of names?

The distinction is not one of reality, but of perception. Just like we saw last week, Jacob exclaims “God is in this place, and I didn’t know it!”. The Divine is always present, but Jacob was so preoccupied with the goings on in his world that he forgot to open his eyes to the world around him. He couldn’t perceive God, and these very human moments are what the Torah records. All he needed to do, however, was wake up and be in the present moment, and when he did he was able to realize that the Divine was also there with him. So too here, the moments when he is called Jacob clue us into his momentary distancing from the Divine, and the instances of the name Israel show Jacob’s connectedness to the Divine that is present in every moment.

I write this from the place named after Jacob, the State of Israel. Based on the teaching above, it’s quite odd that the secular Zionist founders of the State would name it after the spiritual side of Jacob Avinu. Perhaps it’s still a rejection of the religious aspect of Judaism, repurposing Jewish spirituality as the land itself. In any rate, it can’t be neglected that the State is named after the idea of connectedness with the Divine, even in the mundane. This is the unique project of modern Israel: How do we create a society which manifests the Divine while still remaining democratic and open to people of all religions and religious backgrounds? The key cannot be in religious coercion, but from a very real consciousness of the Divine. A recognition of the Divine in every human being, in every blade of grass, in every bite we put into our mouths. This is the essence of Israel. In the coming week, may we be blessed to see the Divine revealed in our lives, and to have a consciousness of the Divine in the world around us.

Tefillah: Elohei Avoteinu

In the Amidah prayer, one way which we refer to the Divine is through the name Elohei Avoteinu, the God of our Forefathers. By grouping all the Patriarchs together before saying them separately, it begs the question, what is the common experience of the Divine that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob shared? It’s actually a different name of God, El Shaddai, Lord Almighty, which they have in common. In the stories of all three ancestors, God appears to them as El Shaddai and reaffirms the covenant with them, promising what was promised to their father. Abraham (Bereshit 17:1) is told “Walk in my ways and be blameless. I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will make you exceedingly numerous.” God continues to promise a multitude of children, some of them kings, along with the land of Canaan as an inheritance. As long as the people continue to circumcise their boys, the covenant will not die with Abraham but continue for all generations. Likewise, Isaac invokes the name El Shaddai (Bereshit 28:3) in his second blessing to Jacob, where Isaac is blessing Jacob to be numerous and possess the land as promised to Abraham. Finally, in our parasha (Bereshit 35:11), God appears directly to Jacob as El Shaddai, and reaffirms the blessing gave to him by his father. In all of these cases, El Shaddai is invoked to uphold the covenant and reaffirm that the covenant will last for all generations. In our connection to the Divine as Elohei Avoteinu, we are reaffirming our commitment to this covenant and asking the Divine to remember the promise made to our ancestors, that we should become numerous and inhabit the land that was promised to us.

View a PDF of this Torah.