Breaking Fast

Break Fast table

It was SRO at Kol Haneshema for the Neilah service so Michelle and I walked by the Sephardic Shul near our house.  Talk about a different vibe!! Main room packed with men, women in the balcony or sitting outside. All the men in white tallitot, dahviding like crazy. The Bi ma is in the center of the room, slightly raised and the leader chants the call and response. The congregants are all crowded in front of the open ark in the front of the sactuary, with their heads inside, almost touching the Torah. (I kept thinking of the contrast with Emanu-El, where you can't get anywhere near the ark.)

It just seems like a much more personal way to worship.  The leaders kept switching off and at one point, a young teenager took over as leader, he could not have been more than 14 and he was wailing away with the best of them. It was very soulful. The funniest thing was that a baby girl wondered in and sat on her Abba's lap eating potato chips.

Anyway, if I come back, I hope it is as Sephardic - better chanting and better food.

Broke fast with just the family.  Some great smoked salmon and herring from the Shuk, fresh cream cheese and Michelle's apple cake.  Can't be beat.  After dinner, the kids turned on Nickelodeon and there is no TV service, only a message saying 'May you be inscribed in the book of life'.