Torah Portion:	Behalotcha
Synagogue:	Chabad of Caulfield (770)
Walking time from home:	5 mins
Reason for going:	Why not try something close?
Kiddush:	N/A

There is an old Jewish joke about a person who gets shipwrecked on a deserted island, and then years later when he is discovered, his rescuers find that he has built a sophisticated makeshift city, including two synagogues. When they ask him why he has built two shules since he is there on his own, he answers that one is the one he goes to, and the other is the one he would never step into. It is a silly story and it is a theory I clearly don’t subscribe to given the nature of this blog and my regular attendance at a vast array of shules, but many people quote it when asked why they go to a shule far from their home and not one that is closer. 

This week, to combat that notion, I went to the shule that is closest to my home. There was a secondary reason too, since it is a Chabad shule that starts at 10am and I woke up late, but I had been meaning to go to the shule colloquially known as ’770’ for quite some time.

The first thing you notice – obviously – is that the façade of the building has been modelled on the famous address on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. Whereas in New York, a building of this nature looks entirely at one with its environment, on a suburban street in East St Kilda it looks foreign and imposing. But that is part of the point. In fact, I believe the bricks for this replica even came from a quarry in America to ensure the authenticity of the design, but the front of the building is where the similarities to the original end. So much so that just a metre or so in from the street, on the outside of the building, there is no longer brickwork and the majority of the other three sides are made of concrete and other materials.

The contrast from the original is even greater on the inside. The New York version of 770 was once the office, reception area and study hall of the Rebbe of Chabad. It was purchased when the Rebbe first came to New York and was made essentially to his specifications. The Melbourne equivalent was made to be used as a communal synagogue, and by its nature, looks different and has a different purpose. It was built in the 1990s and feels like it hasn’t had much of an upgrade since, but nonetheless still looks very presentable and nice. The women’s section, behind a curtain, is the blandest part of the main hall, but in the men’s section, above the Bimah, the artwork of the twelve tribes would not be out of place in any museum. The pieces themselves are not only artistically pleasing, but each one tells the story of its tribe visually and with great depth and meaning.

Unfortunately the same can’t quite be said of the service. When I walked in I recognised a few people, and though we spoke briefly, they told me that this is a shule where people don’t tend to chat. It is about participating in the service and getting it over and done with efficiently. That meant that there were no announcements, no sermon and very little noise, which to me also sounded like a lack of enthusiasm. Even during the special section in this week’s portion, which is sometimes referred to as a standalone Book of the Torah, there was no mention of it and no fuss. Throughout the entire service, there was only one tune for one particular prayer, and otherwise even the prayer leader sounded monotone and as though he was simply there for a particular task, which was actually the case.

I didn’t stay till the end of the service since I had a lunch to get to, but I did see some of the men setting up a very basic Kiddush with just herring and crackers. There may have been a few items that came out later, but the no frills nature of the Kiddush that I did see was very much in keeping with the no frills nature of the service and the congregation. It is clearly not for everyone, but some people love it.