The Syna-blogue

  Torah Portion: Ha’Azinu Synagogue: Torah Centre (Orthodox, Yeshivish) Walking time from home: 25 minutes Reason for going: Appropriate for the season Kiddush: Nice, but not like I remember The portion of this week is the penultimate one of the Torah, but is the last one that is read as a stand-alone portion. The final portion is only ever read on Simchat Torah in a couple of weeks, so given this was effectively the last portion of the year, what better place to hear it than at a shule called the Torah Centre! The Torah Centre has been around for many years, but still feels like some kind of secret society operating under the motto of ‘if you know, you know’. Its address is on a main street in the heart of Caulfield, but the only sign of its existence from the street is an unmarked door straddled between shops on either side. Most people probably walk past without...

                                                                 Rosh Hashana – bumper edition Day 1 – Synagogue: Melbourne Hebrew Congregation – Toorak shule Walking time from home: 55 mins Kiddush: Lavish and extravagant     Day 2 – Synagogue: Kehilat Kesher (Rabbi Genende) Walking time from home: 30 mins Kiddush: Coffee and cake available throughout This blog came about as a result of a conversation with my cousins and nieces at Rosh Hashana dinner last year. A few weeks later, it was a reality. This year the blog was again a hot topic of conversation, and though I had recently thought about ending it, the guests at d...

  Torah Portion: Nitzavim-Vayelech Synagogue: Ohel Devorah (Chabad) Walking time from home: Almost 15 mins Reason for going: Something different and close Kiddush: Large sit-down kiddush lunch There are so many synagogues in Melbourne that sometimes even I forget how many there are and where they all are. Ohel Devorah is one such example. It is right in the heart of where so many Jews live in Caulfield, but because it is on a side street away from the many synagogues all around it on all sides, sometimes it gets forgotten. And because of its location, although it is unashamedly a Chabad shule, it attracts a potentially much broader and more diverse audience. Some come, whether they are Chabad or not, simply because they live nearby; some come because it is a Chabad shule in the area and therefore not necessarily as structured or as rigid as some of the other shules...

  Torah Portion: Ki Tavo Synagogue: Heichal HaTorah (Orthodox, Yeshivish) Walking time from home: 15 mins Reason for going: Something different Kiddush: Nice sit down kiddush with cholent and 2 cakes Although I believe I have been to every shule in Melbourne, there are some I generally don’t go to unless I have a reason to visit. Heichal HaTorah is one such shule. I have only been inside the building a few times, and all those times were because of celebrations that some of my more religious friends were having. On one such occasion, there was a visiting rabbi, and he gave his address almost entirely in Yiddish despite the fact that he was told multiple times that we all speak English! That is my overriding memory of the place, and is one of the reasons why I don’t usually go there voluntarily. Yet despite that, if I am true to myself and this blog, then I need t...