We had the opportunity on Shabbat morning to choose a specific type of synagogue and attend services. We were given a list of different synagogues, broke up into groups and used an old fashioned map to find the synagogue. The group broke up into different groups and attended a service at The Great Synagogue in Jerusalem. Link for more info about the Great Synagogue.
Another group had the opportunity to attend a synagogue that serves the Italian community in Jerusalem. It also has an extensive museum. Click on link below to find out about this interesting synagogue.
https://ijamuseum.org/museum/the-synagogue/the-story/
The third group chose a reform synagogue, which serves a variety of people in Jerusalem. The link foe Har El Reform Congregation is below. You can choose English once your on the site.
We had a great experience to eat a picnic lunch and debrief about our experience attending Shabbat services in Jerusalem.
The theme of the afternoon was “Jerusalem is the Venice of God.” We were led on a walking tour of Jerusalem by our amazing tour guide Dovev Pe’er and Andrea Katz, JFNA Israel Mission Manager. This unique tour given in the footsteps of a famous Israeli poet named Yehuda Amichai’s this gave a different spin on the history of Jerusalem and being able to envision it through the eyes of the poet. You can see one of his poems above. Touring Jerusalem and seeing its diversity on Shabbat was quite the experience.
Our Shabbat experience in Jerusalem was full and definitely peaceful. We held a Havdalah service to mark the end of Shabbat.
Our night was topped off with learning about a program the St. Louis Jewish Federation supports. A amazing center called Crossroads is an addiction prevention program that helps the English speaking teens in Jerusalem. Learning about this amazing program and the need for it was definitely eye opening. We were able to listen to a young lady that had been through the program, the director of the program and one of the social workers who connects with the teens on the street. Click on the link below to find out more about this program.
