Torah Portion:	Shemini – HaChodesh
Synagogue:	Kedem (lay led, reform)
Walking time from home:	Almost 20 mins
Reason for going:	To join their monthly service
Kiddush:	Plentiful kiddush with Challah

There are some shules that I have known about for a while but had never had the chance to visit. Since starting this blog, as well as the larger, better known shules, I have tried to seek out the ones that are niche, small or away from the mainstream. Kedem is all those things, and it was great to finally see it in action.

Kedem actually started about 30 years ago, but without the fanfare of many other shules. Since the beginning it has been intentionally lay led, small and diverse. Although officially under the auspices of the Progressive movement, and with the official siddur of the Progressive movement in use, lay leadership means that it doesn’t always follow all the conventions even of a Progressive shule. For one thing, there are only services on Shabbat morning twice a month – on the first and third Shabbat of each month, with one of these at their normal venue and the other of these deliberately more intimate and thus in a private home. Their normal venue – where I went – is a classroom at the King David School, but even then, much of what is said each month and how the service is conducted is entirely dependant on the leaders for that month. There is a roster of regular leaders, each of whom is versed in the siddur and the Shabbat service, so no two months will ever be quite the same.

I walked in just before the start time of 10am. The service started promptly and the leader of this week explained that since October 7, it has become a tradition of this shule to begin with a reading for peace. However, it is up to each leader to decide what that reading should be. This time it was from a later part of the morning service prayers, but seemed to be appropriate. The service then began in earnest with the leader calling out page numbers as we went, with a second leader acting as cantor and choosing the tune for each prayer, but with almost all prayers chanted by everyone in Hebrew. In fact, very few prayers were said only in English, though some of the more prominent and pertinent prayers were said in both languages.

Within about ten minutes of the service starting, no more people arrived, and because everyone was involved in the chanting, there also was no talking and no downtime during the service. Even during the Torah reading, people listened intently or read along in the Hebrew or English, but didn’t speak. It was a welcome relief compared to some other shules. All in all there were about 25 people, though I was probably the youngest, and also unlike many other shules, the majority were women, especially since in a shule like this there is complete gender equality for all tasks. So much so that on this occasion it just happened to be that the service leader, the cantorial leader, the Torah reader and the sermon giver were all women. It doesn’t always happen that way, but it was nice to see.

As is the case in other Progressive shules, all of the people called to the Torah had a reason to be called. For instance, one was celebrating a significant birthday, some were commemorating Yarzheits and one was about to embark on a momentous trip. I know this because after each reading, the reason for them being called was explained, and one of the people who was called even gave a prepared speech about her Holocaust survival story and all the people in her family she is commemorating this week. Then, after all the readings, there was a sermon about the portion of the week, but it became an interactive discussion on drinking and alcoholism since intoxication is mentioned in the portion of the week, and Purim was just celebrated recently. At the end of that, when the service concluded, there was a lovely kiddush with grape juice and wine, as well as Challah, dips and cake. It was a lovely way to end a very heartfelt and honest service that certainly speaks to some people. It might not be for everyone and it won’t be on again for a while anyway (apart from Pesach), but it was lovely to see it this week.