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lethargic_manI've just been on a guided tour of my shul's new building—though I didn't see much I didn't see on Monday at the Ner Tamid lighting.
The Ner Tamid was lit by the rabbi's mother (who had paid for it). The rabbi carried a symbolic flame (actually an electric torch) from the shul in Frankfurt where his grandfather had been rabbi before the War, and which light remained burning after the shul had been trashed on Kristallnacht, to his own shul in Finchley; as the daughter of and mother of the respective rabbis, he gave his mother the honour of lighting the new light. As the light was electric, this turned out to be throwing a switch in the fuse cupboard. Afterwards, I complimented her on her en-fuse-iastic lighting.
The ceremony on Monday included maariv. More by accident than design, I ended up davening my first service in the new building out of one of the few (if not the only) first edition Singer's Prayerbook in the shul. (Superseded by the second edition in the 1960s, they're up to the fourth edition now.) I'm sure one can read from that a nice message about continuity and bringing the old and the traditional into the new building.
So, to the tour this evening. "This is the bridal room," says the guide. "What's a bridal room?" says I. "Where the bride goes to attire before the wedding ceremony," I was told. I think: They have enough weddings that they need a dedicated room for that? Aloud, I say, "I've never come this before; do other shuls have one?" "They're normally behind the women's toilets," someone else puts in. Well, I never: A female mystery.
Finally, I was amused to see in the beit midrash a row of computer monitors with at the end of the row a wooden shtender looking like some kind of steampunk equivalent:
The Ner Tamid was lit by the rabbi's mother (who had paid for it). The rabbi carried a symbolic flame (actually an electric torch) from the shul in Frankfurt where his grandfather had been rabbi before the War, and which light remained burning after the shul had been trashed on Kristallnacht, to his own shul in Finchley; as the daughter of and mother of the respective rabbis, he gave his mother the honour of lighting the new light. As the light was electric, this turned out to be throwing a switch in the fuse cupboard. Afterwards, I complimented her on her en-fuse-iastic lighting.
The ceremony on Monday included maariv. More by accident than design, I ended up davening my first service in the new building out of one of the few (if not the only) first edition Singer's Prayerbook in the shul. (Superseded by the second edition in the 1960s, they're up to the fourth edition now.) I'm sure one can read from that a nice message about continuity and bringing the old and the traditional into the new building.
So, to the tour this evening. "This is the bridal room," says the guide. "What's a bridal room?" says I. "Where the bride goes to attire before the wedding ceremony," I was told. I think: They have enough weddings that they need a dedicated room for that? Aloud, I say, "I've never come this before; do other shuls have one?" "They're normally behind the women's toilets," someone else puts in. Well, I never: A female mystery.
Finally, I was amused to see in the beit midrash a row of computer monitors with at the end of the row a wooden shtender looking like some kind of steampunk equivalent:
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Date: 2011-04-15 05:50 am (UTC)bridal room
Date: 2011-04-15 09:44 am (UTC)They are often referred to as the Yichud room, because they are dual purposed for that role in the wedding ceremony too - the few minutes after the ceremony where the bride and groom are left alone in each other's company for the first time as man and wife. In the ultra orthodox world, this would also be the first time they would be be alone in a room together without a chaperone.
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Date: 2011-04-16 09:31 pm (UTC)I guess it was more spectacular to attach the Ner Tamid than screwing mezuzot to the outsite entrances brick walls.
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Date: 2011-04-16 09:40 pm (UTC)It was a shame you couldn't make the switchover from the old building to the new today; it was really good. There was an end-of-term atmosphere in the Drawing Room; and we had one of the best PDZs we've had for years. They told people to turn up for 9:15 and I thought nobody would, but by 9:45 when Shacharis started, we had three minyans' worth! Then we carried the books and sifrei Torah outside and did some singing, then went into the new shul for the Prayers for the Community, Government and State of Israel together, and then went each to our own minyanim for the rest of the service.
Assif has got Hakol Olin's old Ark (they've got a new one). We're still using the old bimah, but apparently a new one's on the way, and will be ready in two or three weeks.
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Date: 2011-04-16 09:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-19 07:13 pm (UTC)New London has one