Torah Portion:	Eikev
Synagogue:	Chabad on Carlisle
Walking time from home:	15 mins
Reason for going:	An invitation
Kiddush:	Sit down kiddush with lots of variety

When my dad first arrived in Australia, one of the first religious people he met was the late Rabbi Gorelick. Though my dad has never been a shule goer, the ad hoc connection stayed till the rabbi first became ill and then passed away in 2021. Through my dad, I met the rabbi as well as his family, and though we rarely went to his shule, I have stayed in touch with some of his kids and have followed the development of the shule over the years. As such, it was nice to visit for the first time in a while.

Chabad on Carlisle has become one of the stalwart synagogues of the Melbourne Jewish community. Starting out as FREE – the home for the Friends of Refugees of Eastern Europe – through Rabbi Gorelick’s efforts and those of some others too, it has become much more than that. Though it still very much caters to some of the Russian-speaking community and is subtitled, the Jewish Russian Centre, it is now a shule that has a much broader reach and therefore a much friendlier appeal.

Rabbi Gorelick encouraged many immigrants from the former USSR to come to services, classes and social functions at the shule, and a lot of them did because they could relate to the common language and culture. These days the shule is run by his son and son-in-law, neither of whom speak Russian, and though there is still a sizeable Russian-speaking crowd who attend, about half the regular attendees have no Russian connection at all. They come because they like the service, the rabbis, the kiddush or as one told me, because they like the homeliness of the place. It is one of the only shules he said, where he can feel at home, where he can have a heated argument with a fellow congregant, but then share a drink at the kiddush. In some ways, it doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is certainly an attraction for many.

Despite that, there is a definite physical divide between the native Russian speakers and the native English speakers, with one group on one side of the room, and the other distinctly on the other side. This extends to the kiddush as well. For me this was interesting to witness, because apart from a few hushed conversations in Russian and some books with Russian translations, there was nothing patently obvious that made it a ‘Russian’ shule. The sermon was in English, the newsletter was in English apart from one paragraph, and the majority of books also had only English translations. The fact is that as much as it may call itself the Russian Jewish Centre, some have deridingly called it a centre for the old Russians. And in a way that is true. Apart from the rabbi and myself, everyone else appeared to be in their fifties at least, if not much older, and many of these Russians arrived in Australia in the 70s, 80s or early 90s. Anyone who arrived later is generally considered a new Russian, and in recent years, a new shule has been set up specifically for that cohort of Russian speakers, which is conducted entirely in Russian. That probably explains why this shule not only has rabbis who don’t speak Russian, but also attracts such a large number of other non-Russian speakers.

The Russian nature of the shule however makes for a very friendly and warm feeling at the kiddush, and though I wasn’t there on a week where they served a cholent, there was nonetheless an impressive assortment of foods and alcoholic beverages, along with some lively banter. The portion of the week includes a section about the importance of having a Mezuzah, and after a sermon that focussed on stories related to the Mezuzah, both funny and poignant, later at the kiddush the rabbi asked me to talk very briefly about my experience on March of the Living, which then led to further conversations with a number of congregants about Israel, Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe – which was quite appropriate given the setting. For the next two weeks I will be back at shules I have visited quite recently, so it was nice this week to have a different experience at such a nostalgic place.