Tag Archives: Simchat Torah

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.

Bereshit: A Primordial Light and Yotzer Or – Parshat Bereshit – Torah from the Holy Land

Torah – Bereshit: A Primordial Light

Have you ever gazed longingly at the sky on a star filled night, pondering the immensity of the universe? It’s an incredibly awe inspiring experience. Growing up, one of my favorite places to go was to the planetarium in Minneapolis, but it was shut down a number of years ago. A few months ago, I had the incredible opportunity to visit the Hayden Planetarium in New York. One thought that struck me was the brevity and smallness of human life in the universe. The light we see emitted from stars in the night sky can be light from BILLIONS of years ago, only just now reaching earth to be gazed upon. It reminded me of a Hannah Szenes quote: “There are stars whose light is visible on earth though they have long been extinct. Likewise, there are people whose brilliance continues to light the world, though they are no longer among the living. This light is particularly bright when the night is dark. They light the way for mankind.” We sit in shul today reading a text thousands of years old, that has spawned the world’s main religions and has been an inspiration for dozens of generations of Jews. And it all started with bereshit, a beginning in which light was created and separated from the darkness. It’s this light that we still feel and experience today in every interaction with our tradition. Today, as you ponder the awesomeness of the universe, ask yourself, how has my tradition been a guiding light for me? In what moments have I experienced this awesome light? And how am I going to amplify and enhance this light for the next generations?

Tefillah – Yotzer Or

In the beginning, the earth was unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep. The Creator said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. The Creator saw that the light was good, and separated the darkness from the light. In the beginning, the Creator created light, and separated the existing darkness.

In our morning prayers, however, immediately after the Barchu, we say the blessing yotzer or u’vorei choshech, oseh shalom u’voreh et hakol, Blessed are you who fashioned the light and created darkness, who makes peace and creates everything. If you look carefully, the tefillot flip the verb used to describe the creation of light, stressing that everything, even darkness, comes from the Creator. The blessing of yotzer or actually comes from Isiah 45:7, which stresses this point even more: “I form light and create darkness, I make peace and create evil-I the Lord do all these things…Shame on him who argues with his Maker, you are nothing but a pot made of earth! Shall the clay say to the potter, “What are you doing? Your work has no handles?…” (Isaiah 45:7-9). It goes on to stress that we humans are nothing but, to quote Reb Simcha Bunim, “ash and dust”. And this awareness of our own limitations and mortality is vitally important. Reb Simcha Bunim would teach that a person’s intellect leads them to an awe of their Creator, and this awe leads to humility. It’s only through humility that one can encounter God, for humility leads a person to find the Truth within. In our morning prayers, we have just cultivated a sense of awe of the Creator through the Psalms. The Yotzer Or brachah then reminds us to humble ourselves, so that we can approach the Creator with our full selves in the Amidah.