Torah Portion:	Shelach
Synagogue:	Bnei Akiva @ Mizrachi
Walking time from home:	Almost 20 minutes
Reason for going:	Something different and nostalgic
Kiddush:	Large communal kiddush

This week I had plans to go to a shule quite some distance away and even made tentative lunch plans. But that was on Thursday. On Friday morning I checked the forecast and realised that I had to change my plans since I didn’t want to get wet walking to shule. As it happens, I left home soon after 9am and less than ten minutes later it started raining and didn’t let up all day.

In Melbourne we are currently in the midst of winter. But since it is summer in the northern hemisphere, many guests visit our shores at this time and the Jewish ones of note often speak at various shules over the winter months. This Shabbat at Mizrachi for instance there were a few such guests, some of whom I know and wanted to catch up with, at least at the kiddush.

Bnei Akiva is one of numerous youth movements in town and it is closely affiliated with Mizrachi. They are also one of the only movements that has a service on Shabbat morning mainly for youth. When I was that age, I used to occasionally go to their services. In those days we met in a dingy old room that was not very light or bright but had a lot of character. Apparently they still use that room but late last year asbestos was discovered there, and the roof leaks, so for the last six months at least – and  who knows for how much longer – they are meeting in a marquee on campus. The marquee of course has no character, but it is large, very bright with many clear panels and with lots of artificial light. Being winter, there were some heaters, but with two open flaps (one for males and one for females) there was a constant breeze. I was told that in summer it is even more unbearable since it retains heat and gets very stuffy, but as a temporary measure, it is a good set up.

Most of the services at Mizrachi officially start at 9:30am. Bnei Akiva technically does too, but everyone knows that in reality it starts later. At 9:30 the marquee was empty but ten minutes later when I arrived with a coffee in hand, I was the eighth on the men’s side and the service soon began. Two more arrived soon after and we had a Minyan, though I was an interloper. There were only nine regulars. The service is for youth but it is mainly for the madrichim – the leaders – of the youth movement (generally aged 18 to early 20s). The younger ones either sit with their families, play games outside (even in the rain) or don’t come to shule. Throughout the morning, the marquee filled up quite significantly and there were certainly some kids aged between about 12 and 17, but they were in the minority and didn’t stay. In fact, there was a bit of a revolving door (or flap) with people constantly coming in and out. The room has space for about 80 or more people (40 or so on each side of the curtain) and at maximum there were about 25 on the men’s side and half as many on the women’s. I was told that usually there are more but the rain kept people away.

The service was ‘chick-chuck’ as the Israelis would say. Essentially it is quick and no frills. There are no disruptions, no sermon and no time wasting between call-ups. The service is run by the youth for the youth, and it all feels very fluid and smooth. The pace is one of the reasons why they run their own service in the first place. It starts later than all the other services but finishes before them. The Torah is read each week by boys who learn the reading or have a Bar Mitzvah anniversary and this week there was a combination. I was the only non-youth that stayed for the duration, but during the Torah reading, some dads and others closer to my age came in. Bnei Akiva doesn’t host it’s own kiddush, but this week, with guests from overseas and other celebrations, there was a very large and generous kiddush for all at Mizrachi that attracted many of the Bnei Akiva youth as well. For me, it was nice to see the enthusiastic youth, and it was nice to catch up with people I knew at the kiddush.