Torah Portion: Bo Synagogue: Hamerkaz (Chabad, Israeli) Walking time from home: 30 minutes Reason for going: Air conditioning and sit down kiddush Kiddush: Big lunch with at least 3 cholents This week was the final week of the summer holiday period, for shules and for other institutions alike. From Monday, everything re-opens to full capacity, including schools, communal organisations and large offices. As such, from next Shabbat, all regular activities resume, but in the meantime, for this final Shabbat of the holiday period, I chose to go to a shule on a hot summer day that I knew would have good air conditioning and a hearty kiddush. Hamerkaz was initially set up largely for Israeli émigrés, though the community has grown since and like most shules in Melbourne, it is now full of diversity, though Hebrew is still a dominant language amongst many of the congrega
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Torah Portion: Vaeira Synagogue: Spiritgrow (Chabad lite) Walking time from home: 25 minutes Reason for going: Late start and sit down kiddush Kiddush: Hearty lunch with lots of variety After nearly two weeks in New York, it was good to be home, although it is still the summer break and some shules have not yet re-opened or are not yet back to full capacity. As such, I chose to go to a shule that I knew would have a decent crowd, and also promised a sit down Kiddush lunch. Moreover, it started at 10am, which gave me an opportunity to sleep in. Spiritgrow is unique in the landscape of Melbourne synagogues. Though nominally Chabad, and with a Chabad father and son rabbinical combination as the spiritual leader and director, it has established itself as a place of meditation and spiritual nourishment. Services on Shabbat or during the week are just one small element o
Torah Portion: Shemot Synagogue: Riverdale Jewish Centre (modern orthodox) Walking time from home: 5 minutes (from my accommodation) Reason for going: Shule of my friends Kiddush: Large and plentiful NEW YORK: After a hectic, exciting and fun week in New York, I wanted a relaxing Shabbat, so I organised to stay with an American friend in Riverdale in the Bronx, who I first met 25 years ago in Melbourne, and have seen every time I have been in the US. As it happens, there is an Australian in his community too who I also know and who has been here 20 years, so I arranged to go to his family for Friday night dinner and was with my American friend and his family for Shabbat day. My American friend is a former president of the Riverdale Jewish Center (RJC), so naturally we went there for shule, even though there are at least half a dozen other shules in the area, and
Torah Portion: Vayechi Synagogue: Hamayan (Carlebach style, Orthodox) Walking time from home: 20 minutes Reason for going: Close and homely Kiddush: Small but plentiful Some shules distinguish themselves by their grandeur, others by their rabbi or people, and still others by their location. Given the variety of synagogues we have in Melbourne, Hamayan distinguishes itself mostly by the singing that emanates from within its walls. Situated in a nondescript converted private house that is only noticeable as a house of worship to those walking past by a plaque on one outside wall, the discernible musicality remains the hallmark of the current iteration of Hamayan. The community has had numerous guises over many years, though singing has been at the core of all of them. As such, the chazan (cantor) is somewhat redundant at times because most of the congregants become
Torah Portion: Vayigash Synagogue: MHC Toorak (Traditional, Orthodox) Walking time from home: 55 minutes Reason for going: Long walk, sit down kiddush Kiddush: Small but lots of variety As I’ve mentioned before, Melbourne has over 60 synagogues. Some are grand, large, purpose-built structures, whilst others are housed in former private homes, or small buildings with little sign from the outside that they are shules. Melbourne Hebrew Congregation (known colloquially as Toorak Shule) is very much in the former category. It is in fact probably the grandest of all the synagogues in town, sitting on its own block just off a main road, and with a giant cupola, visible from all angles. It is so grand and old that St Kilda Shule was actually modelled on it. Toorak Shule is also probably the first shule that I ever remember going to as a five-year-old. It was then and is st