Shlepping progress

[lethargic_man]

I'm out on a Friday night much more now than I was a year or two ago, but boy does it involve a lot of shlepping. Last week I went to Carlebach Minyan in West Hampstead, which was forty-five minutes' walk; the week before I went to Wandering Jews in Maida Vale, which took a record 75 minutes to walk home; this week I'm going to a Carlebach minyan in Muswell Hill. So I thought I'd add these to the map of my progress cycling London:

(Accuracy not guaranteed, particularly in the mess in the middle, in which it's become difficult to tell what's where. Foot journeys only shown from my current place of abode. And I've sneakily included the journey I'll be making tomorrow, which I haven't made yet.)

London's too big. And why do the Jews have to live so spread out in it?

Comments

[iddewes]

I feel like, why do the Jews have to mostly be up in North London? ;)

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

Wrong way round: If you're going to live in southwest London, you're not going to be any closer to Jewish northwest London than if you'd chosen to live in Milton Keynes. There's a reason I chose northwest London to move to when I came to London.

Friday night minyanim in and around Finchley

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

On Friday nights, I go the following, most of which meet once a month:

• Wandering Jews is so-named because it's in a different person's house every time. The rule is: It's your house, it's your rules. Thus it's varied between traditional service and something completely off-beat, but it normally falls in the spectrum between Masorti and Reform. I've only been to one in which women weren't counted in the minyan, and none with segregated seating. The service is followed by a pot-luck vegetarian meal, which is generally not strictly kosher. It's a "young professionals" event, but I've occasionally seen married people at these. It's normally very well attended—full houses.
• The Belsize Park Carlebach Minyan is similar, but a little more structured: the service is always the traditional one, and they tell people what kind of dishes to bring. It's egalitarian and non-segregated; and also very well attended.
• The Muswell Hill Carlebach Minyan I've only attended once; that time it was held in a fully-kosher home.
• Once a month Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg hosts pot-luck vegetarian meals for young people (but not exclusively so)—you've been to at least one of these before. This is preceded now by a egalitarian non-segregated Carlebach service in his home.
• The N3 minyan is a service only; it meets in a different person's home each time in Finchley. It's run on the Shira Hadasha model: segregated seating and mechitza, and men taking מַעֲרִיב, but women taking קַבָּלַת שַׁבָּת. Unlike all the previous, which daven at a fixed time through the year, this minyan davens when Shabbos comes in.
• Minyan Lev Hadash I've not yet attended, but intend to. I believe the service is similar to the N3 minyan; it's followed by a meat non-potluck meal, for £20.

There are also other possibilities, heading into more Orthodox space, but I presume it's the ones above you're interested in.

The N3 Minyan is a service only