SHUL REVIEW: Shira Hadasha (Friday Night and Saturday Morning)

Rating: 4/5- A Beautiful Friday Night Service Lacking In Ruach. 5/5 – Best Saturday Morning Service I’ve Been To In A While

Service Attended: Friday Night Services (8/16/2014) and Saturday Morning (8/23/2014)

Slogan: An Orthodox, Feminist Congregation in Jerusalem
Time of Service: Friday-1:15, Saturday- 8:30am-11:30am
Mechitza: Left-Right, shtender in the middle
Women: Lead Kabbalat Shabbat, Torah Service, read Torah and Haftarah
Meals: They asked at the end of the service for anyone who is looking for a place to go for Shabbos dinner (or lunch on Saturday) to go up front and they would match you up. I had a place to go, so I didn’t take advantage of this.
Frequency: Every Friday night and Saturday morning
Family friendly service

Review:

Friday night: The service I attended was really unlike anything I had attended before. The service was for the most part a typical Carlebach style service, and the congregants sung with some really beautiful harmonies, both from the men’s and women’s sides. The room was half to 3/4 full, and I think that even had the room been full, the size of the room still would have been too big to really have an amazing davenning experience. The service felt very slow, and I could tell that there were individuals who really wanted to pick up the pace and bring more ruach and energy to their davenning, but as a community, it just didn’t get there for me.

The women’s side was more full than the men’s, and for the first time, I actually felt like I would rather have been davening with the women. They just seemed more into the service and to be participating more.

Overall, I would like to go back and see if this was a one time thing, or how they daven.

Saturday Morning: Saturday morning services were wonderful. There was more ruach, and the harmonies were just as beautiful as always. The man who led Shacharit had a beautiful voice, and it was very pleasant to sing along and harmonize to.

Women led Torah service and read part of the Torah reading. What was really special was that there was a Bat Mitzvah, so the Bat Mitzvah girl read the Maftir Aliyah and Haftarah, and she did it beautifully. This was not a sight I thought I would see in Jerusalem, but it was certainly welcome. We threw candy at her after her blessing, and the children present ran up and collected as many pieces as they could.

If you like to sing, Shira Hadasha is the place for you.
Shira Hadasha is located at 12 Emek Refaim Street, Jerusalem. For more information, visit their website.

SHUL REVIEW: Beit Yisrael at Yemin Moshe- Ashkenazi (Saturday Morning)

Rating: 5/5- Friendly, with good kavanah and harmony, and an excellent kiddush

Service Attended: Saturday Morning Services
Date: 8/30/2014

Observance: Orthodox
Time of Service: 8:15am-11am Saturday Morning
Mechitza: To left of men’s section, shaliach tzibur in the middle of men’s section. Sizable women’s section
Women: No leadership
Meals: Known for its kiddush after the meal, which was very nice. No mention of meals at the service, but their newsletter says to email Valerie Adler to request a meal
Frequency: Weekday Shacharit, every Friday Night, Saturday Morning, and Saturday evening
Family friendly service: While there were families, there weren’t too many, and were not a focus by any means
Sermon: English sermon, announcements in Hebrew and English

Review: Beit Yisrael, also known as the Ashkenazi shul at Yemin Moshe, was one of my favorites so far. Great combination of kavanah and harmony, and the voices beautifully filled the space. I went with a female friend (who is conservative), who also enjoys it there. Many English-speaking people daven there, so it can feel very homey for the English speaker.

English sermon, with Hebrew and English announcements. Very friendly people, and I was invited to join them for High Holidays by one of the leaders of the congregation after the service. The highlight is definitely the kiddush afterwards, which had a number of delicious treats, a great lasagna, and some tuna and egg salad.

Come for the food, get some great davening to boot. I definitely recommend Beit Yisrael.

Beit Yisrael is located at 2 Pele Yoetz Street, Yemin Moshe, Jerusalem. There are signs pointing you to the Ashkenazi shul when you get into Yemin Moshe. For more information, visit their website.

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.

SHUL REVIEW: Leader Minyan (Amika de-Bira) (Saturday and Holidays)

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My favorite Saturday minyan, Leader sings every page in the siddur, and every person is there to daven and have fun

Rating: 6/5
Service Attended: Saturday Morning, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur
Date: October 18th, 2014, Rosh Hashana 2014, Yom Kippur 2014

Type of Service: Very Modern Orthodox. Tons of singing, lots of different tunes from different traditions (anything from Sephardic to Carlebach)
Time of Service: Saturday morning- 8:00-1:45, Rosh Hashana- 7:15-3:45, Yom Kippur- 7:00-End of Neilah
Mechitza: Left-Right half mechitza, no one really enforces (or cares) if someone has to go to the other side for a minute
Meals: No meals because of length of service, but very serviceable kiddush at 11:30
Frequency: Every Shabbat Mevarkhim, the Shabbat before Rosh Hodesh, some Holidays
Sermon: Sometimes all Hebrew, sometimes English translation as well
Family friendly service: There are a number of families that attend, but due to the length of the service, many come late and/or leave early
Women: Almost full leadership. Women lead services, read Torah, have Aliyot, etc. I say Leader is pretty much as egalitarian as you can get while still having a mechitza. Some women wear tallitot.

Review:

Saturday: Leader minyan is for people that like to sing and enjoy their davening. The service started at 8 with the morning blessings, and they spend around 2 hours on P’sukei D’zimrah, singing every word of every page. They had three guys alternating leading the different psalms, each with a very different style. One had a very earthy, grounded tone, another a kind of hybrid Ashkenazi/Sephardi vibe, and the third had a very distinct Sephardi sound (and tunes).

After Shacharit, around 11:30, we broke for a pretty large kiddush in their courtyard. The people there are great, and most speak English and are very friendly. There’s always plenty of alcohol, and many of the guys like to use this opportunity to recharge for the rest of the service.

They happened to be celebrating one of the member’s daughter’s Bat Mitzvah that day, so she read rishon-shlishi, as well as the Haftarah. By the time Musaf came around, there was around a dozen men still left, and maybe 20 women still remaining. Still it was a nice feeling, and the service ended around 1:45.

Holidays: Leader also has select services on the High Holidays. I attended First Day of Rosh Hashana and part of Yom Kippur services while shul hopping (they also had Second Day services). Literally every page of the Machzor was sung, and sung by the whole kahal (community). It was really an incredible feeling to be present in a community where every single person is davening with intense kavanah, and really participating in the service.

Rosh Hashana, the service lasted until around 3:45 with an extensive kiddush in the middle, and they went all day on Yom Kippur (I left for another service at 4:00 and they were half way through Musaf repetition). I definitely recommend it for the Holidays, although the tunes will probably not be like they are at home.

As I said at the start, the Leader Minyan is my favorite traditional minyan in Jerusalem, and for any person that really wants to sing and enjoy themselves while they’re davening, I highly recommend it.

The Leader Minyan is located in Ha-Merkaz la-Umanuyot ha-Mizrah at 17 Hizkiyahu ha-Melekh Street, Katamon, Jerusalem, Israel. For more information, visit their website. You can find a link there to sign up for reminder emails, or find them at Amika de-Bira on facebook.