We had a mostly lazy, relaxing day at home today, with just a short outing to the playground in Gan HaPa'amon. The highlight of the day came in the evening, when we attended Kabbalat Shabbat services at Shira Hadasha. This amazing congregation is a feminist, Orthodox community. There is a mechitzah down the middle (a gauzy curtain) which can easily be pulled aside for certain parts of the service like the d'var torah or the announcements (or by any child walking past it or under it, which happened often). The bimah is in the center, and from it both men and women lead parts of the service from their respective side. The women lead the "non-obligatory" parts of the service like Kabbalat Shabbat and Pesukai Dezimra. Women also read from the Torah and have aliyot (based on a modern Orthodox ruling that historically this has been in the case, and is acceptable under Jewish law). To have a minyan, they require 10 men and 10 women to be present. This was not a problem tonight as the room was packed on both sides of the mechitzah (roughly 300 people). They completely lived up to their congregation's name (which means "A New Song") with gorgeous singing and melodies for the entire service. It was obvious that everyone in the congregation was happy to be there. It was truly beautiful.
Each week one or more families volunteer to invite guests home to shabbat dinner after services. So, we joined Jeremy and Claire B. along with several other guests for a friendly, delicious, fun meal. They made us feel very welcome as everyone there told stories, shared experiences (and found acquaintances in common), and enjoyed each other's company. Sylvia was thrilled because they had a 5 year old (who was already asleep), so she was able to borrow a princess cup and play with a doll house! An all around wonderful shabbat experience for our last Friday night in Jerusalem for a while.
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