Chapter 20 Sat. May 14th

I ate breakfast with Marty Cohen so that we could go to Shabbat services at the Main Schule of Jerusalem which is an Orthodox synagogue directly across the street from the hotel. As we approach the guard, he asks us if we are carrying any cell phones, which we aren't, and he allows us to enter. The lobby is magnificent with showcases of the most magnificent mezuzahs I've ever seen (except for the ones on the gates to the old city - see chapter 19). There is a large 10 ft. x 20 ft.wall with names of donors on and it requires a $1,000,000 donation to get your name on the wall. The names are about 2" high and about 1 1/2" apart. Do the math.

The service is entirely in Hebrew (go figure) with the bima in the center and women separated from the men. I am able to follow the service with some accuracy but just before we are ready to leave, I realize I'm looking at the Friday night service rather than the Saturday morning repetition of those prayers. We stayed for about 20 minutes before we had to return to the hotel to join the rest of the group.

We then walked 4 blocks to Temple Ha 'Erel which is the first Reform temple in Jerusalem. It's a very small, modest synagogue with a lady Rabbi who was very welcoming and conducted the service in both English and Hebrew. I'm not sure if that's the minhag of the temple or the English was for our benefit plus a Hillel group from Tampa and a group from Greensboro NC.

Rabbi Mark & Meryl had a torah honor.
Some of the young adults wore some really interesting tallisim. The one that caught my eye was entirely red with what looked like golden Lions of Judah on it. It looked like something out of a Harry Potter book.

There was a nice oneg afterword that was provided by TBY and the Hillel group as a donation to the temple. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming and provided a sense of community not unlike what TBY onegs are like in St. Augustine.

I'm sorry I couldn't provide any pictures of these events but clearly cameras were not appropriate for today and I didn't even need the "photography police" to tell me that.