Evening of Day 2

I went to a lecture at the Great Synagogue presented by Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sax, the chief Rabbi of England and author of several Judaic books. He also wrote the introduction, translation and commentary for the Koren siddur. The lecture was followed by services in the main sanctuary, which is quite majestic.

The Great synagogue uses the Artscroll siddur, which is the same one that I use at home so I was quite comfortable there. I was told that the surrounding community is primarily Anglo (Mostly British, Canadian and American). I will have to decide in the morning if I will go there for services Saturday morning. They start at 7:50 AM, a bit early for me!

I will likely be spending Friday evening at a synagogue closer to the apartment (the Great Synagogue is a 20 minute walk from here) and then having Shabbat dinner with my flat mate. It promises to be an interesting experience and I am looking forward to it.

I have been doing quite a bit of walking in an effort to save money, learn my way around and get some exercise. I am about a 30 minute walk from the Ulpan, 40 minutes to the cantorial classes and 45 from the Kotel (the Western Wall in the Old city). This is further from the areas I need to be in than I wanted, but all-in-all I think it will work out. If nothing else it will toughen up my feet, which are quite sore from all the walking!