Well, I made it to that shul down the road that I was supposed to have tried last week. While I had been told it was a Conservative synagogue, once I got there I found that it was actually a Reform temple. This was my first Reform service in Israel so I had no idea what to expect. The service was very nice, although I had a bit of difficulty initially following it in my Orthodox book. This is because many of the early morning prayers that are said at an Orthodox service are omitted from the Reform service. Apparently they also skip some of the prayers that are in the book they use as it is their custom to do.

Once the main parts of the service were reached, it was a very simple matter to follow along as the primary prayers are always said in the same order. During the Torah service I was honored with Hagba (lifting the Torah after it has been read and holding it while it is prepared to be returned to the ark in which it is kept).

Apparently this Temple does not have a Rabbi, but has a female director that performs Hazzanut. Unfortunately she was not there this weekend, so I will have to go back another time to hear her.

The people there were extremely friendly, insisting that I stay for a while to partake of food and conversation. They were all interested in “the new person in the neighborhood” (it is about a 15-minute walk from the apartment), and were all inviting me to come back. Some asked if I could lead part of the service for them some time as they love to hear new melodies. I stayed there chatting with people for about 40 minutes after the service. All-in-all it was a very pleasant experience.

Today will be dedicated almost exclusively to practicing the Hazzanut pieces that I have been given. I have a class on Wednesday evening at which I will perform the Friday night service in its entirety. This will allow us to “fine-tune” any areas that need it. I will also be given new pieces for the Saturday morning service. My next class after Wednesday will be in October, after the holidays. I will be doing a significant amount of practice to learn those new pieces before that next class.

I have just over 1 week of Ulpan left for this session and, as I mentioned previously, will be skipping a session. This will allow me to focus exclusively on my primary reason for being here --- Hazzanut. It will also afford me the opportunity to practice the Hebrew that I have learned and to learn more without the pressure of trying to keep up in class during this period.