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 to visit the shules that are off the beaten track as well, even if they are on a main road but not very well known like this one. And that is how most of the congregants like it. This is a place where they take their praying and services seriously, and not the kind of place where they look favourably on riffraff. In fact, I got some brief stares when I walked in, and apart from one other visitor, I was the only male in the shule who was not wearing a suit, though some weren’t wearing a tie. Moreover, because they are a serious shule, they start their service on a Shabbat morning earlier than any other mainstream shule in town (at 8:45am), and I don’t think anyone walked in after 9:15. This is not a rule per se, but more of a convention, and someone I know who likes going there, goes elsewhere if ever he wakes up late.  

The service itself is very structured, ordered and conducted almost in silence. The chazzan leads and everyone else answers or responds at the appropriate times, but otherwise there is not a sound from the crowd and certainly no talking. When I saw someone I knew walk in a few minutes after me, I very quietly whispered hello, but otherwise we barely spoke at all until after the service or when we both stepped out of the room momentarily. The whole thing was very sedate. The near-silence and the ordered nature of the service made me feel that in a parallel universe, it could almost have been a meditation retreat. There were also no announcements throughout because everyone knew what was going on and where we were up to, but another thing that differentiates this shule was that the sermon was given before the Torah reading, not after like in most shules. I don’t know why they do this, but it actually makes more sense, since the sermon is usually related to an element of the reading, so it is nice to hear about it before the reading rather than after. In this case, the rabbi focussed on the issue of perspective, since the portion of the week mentions that, though it also has a number of other bigger issues which the rabbi didn’t touch on. Nonetheless, the sermon got us in the right mood, but like during the rest of the service, there was no talking even during the Torah reading.

As I said, this is a serious shule for serious people, but really it is a shule mostly for men. The shule meets in what was once probably a very stately home. The main room now holds about 50 or so people, though this week there were only about 30, with some regulars away. Adjoining the main room is another fairly large room and for some reason, there were two portal windows, almost like on a ship but squarish, built between the two rooms. When the shule first moved into this house, the women were in that room and could barely see or hear what was going on, so now the windows are closed and there is a service for teenagers in there, whilst the two or three women who regularly come, sit behind a fairly thick curtain at the back. One regular worshipper told me that it is because of the situation with the women’s section that the shule hasn’t really grown much since its founding, and thus on the wall in the corridor, there are architectural renderings and visualisations for what they hope to one day build on this site, which will include a sizable and appropriate women’s section. In the meantime, after the service ended, almost immediately tables were moved around and a nice kiddush was set up, which even included a hot kugel and a cholent. I’m not sure I will be back again without a reason any time soon, but it was nice to experience this almost tranquil shule again.