Torah Portion:	Acharei
Synagogue:	Hasifriya @ Blake Street
Walking time from home:	40 minutes
Reason for going:	Something different
Kiddush:	Not quite as advertised

After a lovely Pesach, it was nice to be back at shule for a regular Shabbat. And after taking some time to decide where to go, partly based on where I needed to be later, I ended up at Hasifriya. Literally the word means ‘library’ in Hebrew, which is fitting because it meets in the library at Blake Street shule, which of course is on Glenhuntly Road and not on the street it is named for.

Hasifriya formed a few years ago essentially as the young adult congregation of Blake St, though most are in their late 20s to late 30s, with some even older so I didn’t feel too out of place. These days about a third of the people who go there regularly have some kind of familial connection to Blake St, but the rest simply go because they live nearby and like the idea of going to a shule that is orthodox, but very much modern in its outlook and not Chabad. As such, by the end of the service every week there are 40-50 people crammed into an area that can’t hold too many more. The room itself is in fact a perfect gathering place for such a congregation. It has books all around and feels homely, and though there are no windows, two sky lights have been installed, which can be opened and closed manually, even on Shabbat, that provide much needed natural light.

I arrived a little after starting time but was surprised to see that the service had not yet begun, yet the main shule across the hall was already in full swing. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised since there were only 6 guys in the library, but soon enough the service began, and the first set of blessings were said very quickly. I was informed that usually there is a Minyan already at starting time, but this week there was a celebration of some sort at another shule, so some people were away, whilst others were not yet back from their Passover sojourns. So it took a while to get going, so much so that by the time a Minyan was required for certain prayers, there were still only 8 of us, so a few members from the main shule were roped in for a few minutes. I guess that is the benefit of being on the same premises as another shule. Moments later though a couple more guys and a couple of girls turned up, and by the time of the Torah reading, there were more than 20 on the men’s side and just about as many on the women’s side.

The shule is essentially lay led, though there is a part-time rabbi who often leads the congregation, makes the announcements and usually gives the sermon. This week he spoke about the section of the portion of the week that seems unrelatable to us in our modern times – namely the scapegoat: the notion of a goat being pushed off a cliff for our sins. And though the literal idea of it seems untenable in our day, the metaphorical understanding of it is that each of us should push out of our minds the sins and ideas that weigh us down in order to concentrate on the things that truly matter.

In this case what mattered to everyone in the shule was the advertised kiddush with four cholents! By the time the sermon was over, it was clear that the main shule was ahead, and since the kiddush is always combined and starts whenever the main shule ends, the last part of the service was slightly rushed in order to make up time. The blessing over the wine was said in the library and then everyone was encouraged to rush out into the hall to partake in the cholents. However, for those in the main shule as well as for those in Hasifriya, there wasn’t enough to go round. For some reason, the timing devices on three of the crockpots didn’t work, and one cholent was not nearly enough for the assembled crowd. I met people I knew from the main shule and didn’t have any of the other food either, but it was still nice to be at this shule and to be part of such a lovely congregation.