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 even he sometimes goes to one of the others. RJC is the epitome of modern orthodox Judaism, in that almost everyone who goes to the shule keeps Shabbat, has a college degree, a good, professional job, follows sports and goes to Broadway shows, but at the same time, is equally committed to Judaism, and many of them also sit on various Jewish boards.

The shule itself sits on a large campus just a five minute walk from my friends’ house, which was convenient for me because it was lightly snowing in the morning, and just as cold but without the snow on the way home. Both the rabbi and assistant rabbi are young and well liked, and though the shule competes to some extent with the other orthodox shules in the area, it looked very well attended to me, both for the Friday night and Saturday morning services. It is clearly a shule that the locals adore, and even the former Senator, Joe Lieberman, is a regular congregant.

Overall, not only did it feel familiar and friendly to me, but it also felt warm and inviting. At least half a dozen people came up to me during the service because it was clear that I was a visitor from out of town, and at least as many others wanted to chat with the exotic Australian at the kiddush. The experience however was slightly jarring for me because what I noticed almost from the outset, was a lack of diversity. There is a mono-cultural vibe about the place, and I don’t think I heard an accent other than American (or Canadian), although my host did say that there are a handful of non-American members. In Australia, I don’t think I have ever been to a shule or even a community event without at least 3 to 4 other accents and cultures, if not a lot more. Nonetheless, the friendliness of the congregants was greatly appreciated and I felt warmly welcomed.

The portion this week was Shemot, the first one of the book of Exodus, and the engaging, young rabbi spoke about the trials and tribulations of Moshe. To me this felt very resonant and relevant, because at the retreat I attended this during the week in New York, I spoke about Moses as the biblical character I relate to the most. In this portion, he begins his transformation from Egyptian prince to Jewish leader, and in the process faces numerous trials, some of which later come to define him, both within Judaism and in the broader community. In fact, sometimes righteous people are compared to Moses because of his traits. The rabbi even said that although he was a leader of the Jewish people, he had the traits to be a leader of others. Maybe that is why the somewhat lack of diversity in the shule bothered me. I still had a lovely and relaxing Shabbat, with great meals and a wonderful opportunity to reminisce. However, I definitely did not enjoy the cold, and look forward to next Shabbat, by which time I will be home and back in summer.