Torah Portion:	Balak
Synagogue:	Adass Israel (ultra-orthodox)
Walking time from home:	Just over 25 minutes
Reason for going:	Something very different
Kiddush:	Large sit down kiddush

For the purposes of the blog, this week was special. I started this blog in part because I had been to most shules in Melbourne but wanted the opportunity to visit some others. Adass was always at the top of that list. It was one shule I had never been to for a service and in fact knew almost nothing about Melbourne’s most insular Jewish community.

Some months ago, when I talked to people about this blog, one of my friends said that he sometimes goes to Adass and next time he goes, I can come with him. This felt like a small mercy because by reputation alone, I had always been intimidated to enter Adass on my own. This week, when our schedules finally aligned, we managed to make it inside one of the city’s most cloistered synagogues. But almost from the outset we were welcomed. Not by everyone, but certainly by some.

Once you enter the building, you are greeted by a very large foyer, from which juts off a kitchen and bathroom area, the main shule, a large hall and some other smaller rooms. The start time for the main service was 8:30am and we arrived a few minutes early, so almost immediately we were ushered into the kitchen where everyone who was already there was making themselves a hot drink. With coffee in hand, some of the people introduced themselves, and talked particularly to my friend, who was better known in this community. Then a few minutes later, everyone moved into the main shule. I don’t know what I expected, but I didn’t think it would look so nice. I was later told that the shule had been recently renovated, with newly pained walls, new furniture and new light fittings. It made the whole room look modern, in stark contrast to the garments of the ultra-orthodox that many of the men were wearing.

The room holds up to about 250 downstairs, but at no point were there more than about 50. Apparently this week was a relatively large crowd. I was very surprised by this because I expected Adass of all shules to be full every week, but I discovered two things. The first is that there was an earlier service before we even arrived, so some had attended that, but more significantly, there is a large hall literally next door and on a Shabbat morning starting at 9am, there is a service there too, which is more than doubly as large as the main service. We went there for a few minutes and saw that not only was there a much bigger crown, but it was also more vibrant with more kids and more singing. Why are there two almost simultaneous services? Essentially it is about ideology. The main service uses an Ashkenazi prayer book whilst the service next door uses a Sephard prayer book, more in keeping with the traditions of the majority of Charedi communities. The distinctions in wording are very minor, but as was clear, the distinction in energy and attraction are much larger.

In the case of both services, they were relatively slow by the standards of most shules, but very familiar despite the circumstances. In both cases, there was no sermon and no communal prayers, and in the main shule in particular, there was a lot of decorum. There was almost complete silence during the Torah reading and only a few muted conversations during other parts of the service. It felt very respectful and appropriate. It was however – though not unexpectedly – a building almost entirely for men. At no point did I see a woman or even a young girl. There are women’s sections in both shules, but there is no way to see through. Even in the large kiddush hall at the back of the building, there were no women. It was a combined kiddush though from both services, with just salads and cake, and once everyone was seated, the rabbi gave a speech in Yiddish, which is the norm. I didn’t understand it but was glad to have finally made it to this unique and surprising shule.