Torah Portion:	Shemot
Synagogue:	Daminyan, Chabad lite
Walking time from home:	10 mins
Reason for going:	Air conditioning and close to home
Kiddush:	Sit down and with two cholents!

This Shabbat I genuinely didn’t know which shule I would go to when I woke up on Saturday morning. There are a few that I wanted to go to, but given that it is the middle of summer with many people, including a number of rabbis away, some shules are closed for a few weeks. So much so that some of the emails that I usually get from various shules on a Thursday or Friday haven’t been coming the last few weeks. But one email that did come, and one shule that I knew was going to be open, was Daminyan. So with few other options on this hot morning, that is where I decided to go, and apart from anything else, I knew for sure that they would have air conditioning and that it was close to home.

Like many Chabad shules, Daminyan is advertised to start at 10am. I arrived a few minutes after the advertised time and was surprised to note that I was literally the third person in the room. For a moment I doubted myself and thought that despite the email I received, maybe they too were on a break. But one of the people already there reassured me that more than a Minyan would arrive soon, and sure enough he was proven correct. Within 15 minutes there was a Minyan, and within half an hour there were enough adults on the men’s side to make at least three Minyans, with almost as many kids and close to a dozen women as well. Whilst most men wore the traditional Chabad garb of a long black coat, some forsook the coat, some were even more casual than that, and one or two were in shorts. The room was not full, but there was certainly a decent crowd, and although many regulars were away including the rabbi, it didn’t feel empty or makeshift in any way.

In fact, if an outsider were to walk in and didn’t realise that it was the middle of summer, they wouldn’t have necessarily figured out that it was the middle of summer and the midst of the holiday season. With so many regulars away, others were assigned or appointed to the various tasks, including leading the service, the Torah reading and the giving of the sermon, and thus there was a sense of normality about the place. Afterall, that is what this shule is all about. Last time I came to Daminyan, I was told that its ethos is Chabad lite, meaning that it is a Chabad shule to be sure, but that the Chabad-ness of the shule is potentially downplayed. This time I saw it in a different light and this was confirmed to me later at the kiddush. The truth is that that in all elements, the shule is a typical Chabad environment, with pictures of the Rebbe at the entrance, mostly Chabad books on the shelves and many of the men garbed in Chabad black coats. Sure, not all of them have long beards and not all fully subscribe to the Chabad mantra, but it is there. As such, it was explained to me that in reality, unlike other Chabad shules that are about Jewish outreach, Daminyan is specifically about Chabad in-reach for young families (and men in particular) who are deciding whether or not a Chabad lifestyle is for them. That is why its tagline is ‘a shule with heart’, and why its target audience are young Jewish professionals who are looking for a network and a place to belong.

In a sense, it was appropriate that I was there this week because it was not only the first Shabbat of the new calendar year, but also the beginning of a new book of the Torah, and the start of the life of Moses. Like many in this community, Moses had a professional life, but equally had a pang to be connected to a community, one that he knew intrinsically that he was a member of. I felt comfortable in this community – like I do in all the shules that I visit – but even more so at the kiddush, when one of the congregants who sponsored the kiddush, spoke about his late mother in a way that I could relate. Maybe it was for that reason, or maybe simply because of the nature of this shule, but there were more people at the kiddush than there were in shule, and probably because of that, a whole assortment of food kept being presented to the tables. It was clear that there is a certain passion and dedication associated with this community, and it is nice to see that it lives up to its aspiration: a shule with heart.