So I went to the Kol Nidre service last night with some good friends. We left after about an hour. It was so not happening. In New York, London, and anywhere else I’ve been to Yom Kippur services the places are packed to the gills because most folks go to synagogue but once a year and Yom Kippur is that once. Some places you even have to get tickets in advance. This beit-knesset was one of many big ones we’ve got here in Tel Aviv. It was absolutely not filled to the gills last night. There were far more women in the upper women’s section than there were men in the men’s section down below and there was still ample space up top. The average age (and I’m including here the infants and small children dragged along) of participants on the upper deck was about 65. If you take out the outliers of the babies, the average age jumped to about 75. There were no makzorim (prayer books with the kol nidre service stuff) available. It seems you were expected to bring your own –which the really elderly knew to do. The rest (the few) of the younger crowd mostly did not know and also don’t have ‘em to begin with and so we kind of stood and sat around. One of the girls along with us (a native Israeli) sent text messages on her phone through-out the time we were there. I was wishing I’d brought along a phone to do the same with. The cantor was uninspiring, everyone was sort of doing their own thing –a kind of private reading/mumbling of the service–it was not the Kol Nidre service of my previous experience. But, it seems, it is the typical service here because Tif had gotten us to try this synagogue after having gone to another one last year that was exactly the same and she was thinking that it had been an anomoly. It was not. Blech. No fun and definitely not inspirational.
Outside on the streets though, it was fun. It was really really fun. And it was inspirational. The kids were whizzing up and down on their bikes, the parents were strolling along with strollers, groups of friends large and small were cruising by foot, bike, or rollerblades down the middle of the street. It was alive and celebratory. It was magnificent. I blogged about my first experience with Yom Kippur Israeli style here last year and gave a more detailed description of what it is like on the streets of Tel Aviv on this special day.
Then I attended the feast. The table was beautifully and bountifully laid. The battery in my camera had died by then (yo Idan send the pics! blog the pics but Idan got some great ones (he also got some great street scenes). It was a typical “we’re not fasting” Tel Aviv feast. Spread upon the table were slices of Turkey, Ham, Pastrami (I think it was), and a variety of other meats most of which seemed to have come from uhhh pigs. The hosts of the meal hail out of Jerusalem but they are moving to Tel Aviv soon (yay!). Noorster also arrived fully laden with good stuff to be munched. We were only missing the owner of the apartment who is off doing the good deed of taking care of someone elses children, dogs and cats and thus depriving us of her good company. I did not bring along anything because by the time I heard about the feast all the stores were closed, my cupboards were bare, and I had been thinking I’d fast.
My fast lasted right up to the time that the food was beautifully arranged and displayed on the table. As a vegematarian I stuck to the cheeses, breads, and incredible salad. Lisa brought along a dessert (along with a ton of other delicacies that she spread across the table! I’m not sure she left any food in the Karmel market after that shopping spree!) that was the most incrediblly edible concoction I’ve ever consumed and only wish I’d saved more room to consume more of it. Then we all headed out onto the streets again to take in the sight of everyone enjoying a city without cars and to enjoy it ourselves.
Yom Kippur Tel Aviv style –I’ll take it every year!
