Torah Portion:	Vayakhel
Synagogue:	Beit Haroeh@Mizrachi (Modern Orthodox)
Walking time from home:	Nearly 20 minutes
Reason for going:	Close and with air conditioning
Kiddush:	N/a

On a day pushing 40 degrees C, my goal for Shabbat morning was to find a shule that was relatively close and had good air conditioning. Beit Haroeh certainly fit that bill. It is on the campus of Mizrachi and thus one of five Shabbat morning services on that campus, but it is also very much its own congregation. In fact, aside from the main shule, it is “one of the longest standing minyanim within Mizrachi”, according to the website. It has been going as a standalone service since the 1980s but has moved around different rooms and buildings since that time. Currently it is housed in the library / learning centre and thus almost as soon as you walk in, you feel sense of comfort, like the books on the shelves are welcoming you.

The other thing that was immediately noticeable to me was the age and familiarity  of the regular congregants. All up there were over 30 people (20+ on the men’s and about 10 women). Amongst the men, not only did everyone know each other by name or nickname, but they knew who was going to be away that week and why. They were also all of a certain age, and though they immediately made me feel welcome since I know some of their kids, it was also very obvious to me that I was the youngest in the room. Many of them come to this service because their kids or grandkids go to other services on the same campus and they can walk together or meet up after, but this service is clearly the time when they hang out as their own cohort. Despite that, there is very little chatter during the service. At one point early on in the service, it was so quiet that the only thing you could hear were sniffles or the first and last words of each paragraph that were said aloud by the cantor. Though as is often the case in small shules such as this, the cantor and everyone else who had a role in the service (ie: Torah reader) were members of the congregation and not employed or assigned specifically to those tasks. Though there is a rabbi, the service very much feels like it is lay led. Even the rabbi has another job during the week (unrelated to rabbinics) but gives his time on the weekends to this shule.

One of the innovations of this shule – most likely initiated by the rabbi – is that there are essentially two sermons. Just before the Torah is taken out, the rabbi gives a brief summary of what is about to be read and tells the congregation the interesting things to note for anyone who wants to follow along. He also asks a trivia question related to the portion. Then after the reading, at the usual point when a rabbi gives a sermon, he returns to the podium, seeks responses to the trivia question, answers it if congregants weren’t able to provide the correct answer, and then gives his sermon, in this case about not building the Sanctuary on Shabbat. In a sense, this kind of approach makes the Torah reading feel more alive. Not only is everyone listening or reading intently because they are searching for the answer – this week it was a question about particular words within the reading – but because the rabbi explained in advance what the reading was about, most were keen to explore some of the themes in greater detail. However, although the Torah reading, like the rest of the service, was relatively quiet with very little chatter, not everyone was entirely engaged in the reading. Not only is the shule in a library, but there were more publications strewn throughout the room than in most shules. There were Mizrachi magazines but also other newsletters and printed news columns, and quite a number of people busied themselves reading part of a book from the shelf or one of the publications during the Torah reading. Clearly this is a shule where people crave knowledge, and it was nice to see. There was no kiddush specifically for this shule, though some did join the kiddush of the main shule, but even without that, the sense of camaraderie was palpable, and you get the feeling that the people who come to this shule like it just the way it is.