Shabbat Review: Ein Prat Minyan

Shul: Ein Prat Minyan
Location: A room off of King George Street near the old Cup O' Joe
Date: March 30, 2012


Description: Ein Prat is actually a pluralistic Beit Midrash (house of study) where post-army individuals learn "canonical Jewish and Western texts with one another, drawing inspiration from them for Israel's future." In other words, instead of just learning what the Sages wrote, they're learning what the Sages were learning at the time (e.g., Aristotle, Plato, etc.). It is a beautiful model of learning for this country and its citizens. 


The room was set up with a semi-mechitza (divider between men and women) - the front half of the room was divided, but the mechitza did not go all the way to the back, so those that wished to sit with men and women together could still do so. I thought that was a really beautiful way to make everyone feel comfortable. When the service started, it was totally informal and there were maybe 15 other people in the room. We only knew that we had started because we saw some people start praying Minchah, the afternoon service, individually. 


A few minutes later, we all joined together with Kabbalat Shabbat, the welcoming of Shabbat. This part of the service is always my favorite on a Friday night, because it is almost exclusively music throughout. We sang and danced, and more and more people wandered in. By the time we arrived at L'cha Dodi, the welcoming of the Sabbath Bride, the room was packed with nearly 100 people. The music was decent, and mostly lively, but the tempos lagged and whoever was choosing keys was not doing a great job, as most were very low, even for women's voices.


After Kabbalat Shabbat, a community member gave a teaching. Although I didn't understand much of what she said, I know she referenced Rabbi Sacks, a prominent Orthodox Rabbi, and some more secular texts as well. Really cool. Then, we moved into Ma'ariv, the evening service, which was more of a "moving right along" style, which anyone who has met me knows that I dislike. But I found solace in my new siddur that has an interlinear translation of the text, meaning I can focus on the words more intently if the setting doesn't connect me to my spirituality. 


Something Special: We did Kiddush at the end of the service, but my siddur has it before Aleinu, and something caught my eye: "The [person who has just said the prayer for Kiddush] should not drink the Kiddush wine, but should give some to a child who has listened to the Kiddush and responded, 'Amen.'" I had never seen this before, so I looked it up in another Orthodox siddur. Sure enough, it's there too (with the addition that if no children are present, the leader may drink the wine)! I really like that tradition. I think it teaches us that even if someone does not know the blessings, just responding "amen" suffices. Indeed, it is just as meaningful and should be recognized before the one who has actually said the blessing. Applying it to synagogue life, the community is more important than the Rabbi. So true.


Take-home Value: Good ruach, a wonderful compromise with the presence of a mechitza, could have been a little quicker and higher in key, but a wonderful way to bring in lots of Israelis from different backgrounds in a comfortable environment.


Would I Go Again: Probably. If I had a free Shabbat!