I spent Shabbat in Jerusalem. I had a lovely Shabbat Dinner with my flat-mate on Friday and some good conversation. Saturday morning I went to the Conservative Shul, and was welcomed back by a number of people (by name, even!) including both the Rabbi and Cantor. It felt good to be remembered and people were asking about my trip. One gentleman wanted to invite me for dinner this Friday night, but I already have an invitation with a friend here, so will probably go with him a different weekend.
On Saturday I was invited for lunch at a friend’s apartment. There were 9 of us in total, and I knew everyone there. We met at noon and I left at about 3:30. Being the “most religious looking one present” (I was still in my suit from services), I was given the honor of saying Kiddush over the “fruit of the vine” and also the blessing over the bread. I also got the seat at the head of the table, which happened to be the only padded one there, so I was quite content.
Today I had my first Cantorial lesson since returning. I was given new music to work on for the Torah service on Shabbat and we also started working on the Musaf (additional) service for Shabbat. Thrown in will also be special blessings for holidays and for the new month. There are still some pieces from the morning service that I am working on, and I am looking forward to completing these and moving on.
We also worked a bit on solfesh (the do-re-mi scale) to improve my sight-reading capability and also as an aid to learning and moving faster. This will be helpful, especially considering the vast amount of material that I still have to learn.
