Pesach (first days and Chol Hamoed Shabbat)

Day 1: Gandel Besen; Day 2: Chabad Glen Eira; Shabbat: Caulfield Shule

Ahead of my overseas adventure, I arranged to go out for all meals of the first three days of Pesach, not just the Seders, but Friday night and all the day meals as well. As such, I re-visited shules that I have been to before because those are the shules where I met my hosts.

Pesach in general has always been my favourite festival. Though I am not the biggest fan of Matzah, I don’t mind it – unlike some people – and I have no issue putting up with it for a week. I do however find the lengths that some people go to in order to make their homes Kosher for Passover somewhat tedious, but more than anything I love the Seder. If it were up to me, there would be one day of Yom Tov even amongst the orthodox even in the Diaspora, but there would be at least three Seders. I always leave Seder wanting more, even though I go to two of them each year. There is so much to unpack in the Seder and so many interpretations and commentaries that I think most people miss, especially if they only read the words in the Haggadah. Each time I go to a Seder I learn or experience something new, as was the case this year, but I also know there is so much more to learn.

Though three consecutive days of Yom Tov is a bit much, going to three different shules and going out for all the meals was actually a lovely experience, with great hosts, wonderful food and even better conversations. Now I feel energised for my trip to Berlin, Poland and Israel – the latter two for March of the Living. I am sure the end of Pesach in Germany will be an altogether different experience, but one that I am nonetheless looking forward to immensely. Shabbat in Krakow ahead of the program will be equally interesting no doubt, and then I am sure the program itself will be exhilarating, exhausting and fascinating.

So for now, I am signing off from Australia after three days of walking, eating, talking and praying, and look forward to the next instalment from abroad.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

  Torah Portion: Ki Teitzei Synagogue: Yeshivah, Chabad Walking time from home: 10 mins Reason for going: I woke up late Kiddush: Large Kiddush with cake and cholent This week I genuinely didn’t know where I would go to shule when I woke on Shabbat morning. Sometimes I plan these things in advance, and sometimes I just play it by ear. The one relevant factor however was that I missed my alarm and woke up later than expected, meaning I had to choose either a later starting shule, or a closer one, or both. Several months ago I had wanted to go to Yeshivah – one of the old traditional shules in Melbourne – but I got sidetracked and ended up at Young Yeshivah, one of multiple shules on the campus. This time as I walked in I discovered that there was another celebration at Young Yeshivah that some people were going to, but I stayed in the main shule for the duration of th
Read more
  Torah Portion: Miketz Synagogue: Mizrachi main shule (Modern Orthodox) Walking time from home: Almost 20 minutes Reason for going: A friend in town Kiddush: Crowded, nice This week, for the first time in a few weeks, I had no Shabbat plans and genuinely no idea where I was going to go on Saturday morning. But I did have a friend in town from interstate who goes to Mizrachi Sydney, so we met in the morning and together decided to go to the Melbourne equivalent.  For the purposes of counting synagogues, Mizrachi Melbourne is just one of 61. But in reality, on a Shabbat morning, there are actually five services on the campus – an early service in the main sanctuary and then four other simultaneous services scattered throughout the complex. I had previously been to two of them and had intended to go to another one this time, but once we walked in I didn’t want to leave m
Read more
Torah Portion: Naso Synagogue: Elsternwick Jewish Community, modern Orthodox Walking time from home: 35 mins Reason for going: Something new and different Kiddush: Very small but friendly Though I often plan which shule I will go to – at least on the Friday before – I don’t usually do much research about what special events they may have on that week, unless I’ve been invited or specifically know about a guest speaker or some kind of Simcha. Therefore, when I got to Esternwick shule this week (on the campus of Yavneh College), I was a little disappointed by the turnout. In fact, it wasn’t till more than half an hour into the service that there was even a minyan.  As it turns out, a family that regularly comes to this shule was having a Bar Mitzvah, but because there was a pre-arranged event in the hall, they couldn’t accommodate both events and thus the Bar Mitzvah w
Read more