More Surprises

Saturday, January 24, 2009

David and I walked from the hotel to the Jerusalem Great Synagogue for services, and to meet Rabbi Shaya Kilimnick from Congregation Beth Sholom in Rochester. Rabbi Kilimnick and his wife are vacationing in Israel and have just returned from a few days in Eilat at the southern tip of the country.

The atmosphere at the Great Synagogue is a wee bit different than the chaos last night at the Pinsk-Karliner service. The last time anyone yelled at the Great Synagogue was when one of the workers who built the place hit his thumb with a hammer. Instead, the focus here is on the hazzan (the cantor) and the accompanying men’s choir.

Everything is extremely rigid (no talking during services; pay attention; try not to walk around and visit your friends) but the voices and the tunes are as beautiful as I have ever heard.

The gabbai (a congregant who helps arrange the service) came over to greet Rabbi Kilimnick, who in turn introduced David and me. The gabbai offered me an aliyah, or honor, of lifting the Torah scroll following the reading. This honor, known as hagba, is a pretty big deal: the Torah is lifted and the columns of text are displayed for the entire congregation. It takes strength, leverage, and a bit of nerve. It's not something you want to do wrong.

Since I have never lifted a Torah, I suggested to the gabbai that this was no time to start practicing. So he offered the honor to David, who accepted immediately … and then worked up a first class case of stagefright. I tried to comfort him, telling him that there was nothing to worry about: he was simply going to lift the Torah in one of the world’s most famous synagogues in front of a congregation of hundreds and hundreds of people. I’m sure he felt a lot better.

Not only did David do a good job, but he stayed on the bimah (the elevated platform in the middle of the sanctuary) holding the Torah during the blessing of the new month, and then followed the procession to the front of the sanctuary to return the Torah scroll to the ark. I haven't been as proud of him in this context since his bar mitzvah. (Rabbi Kilimnick took full credit for David getting the honor of hagba. On the other hand, I think perhaps my friend the Pinsk-Karliner rebbe may have called ahead to make the arrangement.) In any event, David has now also become a Big Shot.

We then joined Rabbi Kilimnick and his wife and their other guests for lunch in the Kilimnick apartment in “David’s Village.” This neighborhood, located steps from the walls of the Old City in the Mamilla district, is the epitome of “location, location, location.” The views from the apartment are breathtaking. The Kilimnicks are planning to return to Rochester next week, and are not looking forward to leaving Jerusalem. I don’t blame them.

David and I returned to the Old City after lunch to visit the “Hurva Synagogue.” During previous visits I visited the Hurva – or what was left of it after the Jordanians destroyed it prior to 1967 -- many times. The only part of the structure remaining after Israel recaptured the Old City was a large stone arch. Today, the shape of that arch is the defining feature of a new Hurva Synagogue which is nearing completion. It was very exciting to see the structure being rebuilt, and I look forward to seeing the finished product.

We continued through the Jewish Quarter to pay another visit to the Kotel. Since I won’t be returning to Jerusalem this trip, it was an opportunity to say “goodbye” and to say a prayer of thanks for the opportunity to be here again. David wanted to recite afternoon prayers and we quickly found a prayer group inside the tunnel adjacent to the main Kotel plaza. The Saturday afternoon service is particularly interesting because it features “coming attractions” in the form of passages from next week’s Torah portion.

From there it was back to the hotel to collect the luggage and as soon as Shabbat was over (at 5:43 p.m. for those of you playing at home) we set off for the Central Bus Station so I could once again catch a bus to Tel Aviv, check into my hotel, and get ready to resume my second week of Army service.

The word from the other volunteers staying at the hotel is that our group from last week will stay together … but we won’t know where that will be until tomorrow morning.

Once again, I don’t know when or where I’ll have Internet connectivity, so stay tuned!