June 25: Yom Menucha - A day of rest

And restful it was. In the morning, an interesting experience of "shul hopping" - attending services at three different synagogues. The first was modern Orthodox. Men and women sitting on different sides, separated by a curtain that you could sort of see through. Beautiful singing, slow tempos and everyone participating. Many tunes were unfamiliar but relatively easy to catch on. At the beginning of the Torah service, a woman began to lead the chanting. Kind of a surprise at that setting! She also took the Torah out and carried it through the women's side, then handed it to a man on the other side of the curtain. She led the singing and carried the Torah but did not wear a tallit or head cover! A woman next to me helped me find the right page in an unfamiliar Siddur, and she shared her Chumash during the Torah reading. She seemed genuinely thrilled when I whispered to her that I had read that portion in my home synagogue in California.

Our second visit was to the ultra-Orthodox Great Synagogue of Jerusalem. A fantastic building full of marble and dark, gleaming wood, and huge chandeliers and stained glass windows. An operatic cantor and a men's choir that sang, among other things, the congregational responses. The congregation just sat or stood, totally passive. The women sat in a gallery high above the main floor, but there was no curtain so we could see everything. We were there for the beginning of the Musaf service. The Kedushah was absolutely beautiful but too much like a choral work with a soloist. As I said before, no congregational participation.

The third and final stop was to a conservative synagogue. This, of course, felt like home. Men and women sitting together, women wearing tallitot, a female cantor, familiar tunes. We had lunch there, too, a rather substantial meal of four kinds of meat and many salads and side dishes. No dinner needed tonight.

In the afternoon we napped, read, and packed our bags. Late in the afternoon we were all invited for wine and snacks on the Rabbi's spectacular 11th floor balcony with a panoramic view of Jerusalem, with the Old City in the center. The balcony was easily large enough to accommodate the whole group of nearly seventy people! We watched the day turn into night, the colors mixing, the first stars appearing in the sky, and the lights coming on in the city. We sang Havdalah in this gorgeous setting. A wonderful last night in Jerusalem. Tomorrow we leave for the Dead Sea and Masada, and from there into the Galilee.