Prague Journal

Saturday, October 30, 2004

The Shabbat morning service at the Spanish Synagogue was conducted jointly by Rabbi Narrowe and Rabbi Colin Eimer from the Finchley Reform Synagogue in England. Coincidentally, a group of students from Santa Barbara, California, had come to the service, as part of their study-abroad tour of synagogues and churches and historical sites around central Europe. Few of the students (if any) were Jewish, but two were from Denver (from Centennial, actually!). The student group had only intended to stay for a short while, but they ended up staying for the entire service (nearly two hours), which was, in Bejt Praha tradition, conducted in English, Czech, and Hebrew. The Torah Reading was interspersed with aliyot by people from Prague, England, Slovakia, and America.
Rabbi Eimer had come to Prague with his choir, who sang throughout the morning service. I was reminded of the Temple Sinai High Holiday choir in Denver. The acoustics of the Spanish synagogue amplify the voices and fill the hall. The Finchley choir was on a tour of 13 countries in Europe giving concerts “in aid of Progressive Judaism” and were scheduled to give a concert of Sephardic, Chassidic, and Israeli Shabbat, festival and wedding music this evening at the Spanish synagogue. Tonight the choir will be accompanied on the massive organ on the synagogue’s upper gallery.
A competing performance was hosted by Rabbi Narrowe at the Rock Café, adjacent to the Reduta Jazz Club. According to Rabbi Narrowe, this is the first “Rock Havdala” service in the Czech Republic, perhaps anywhere in Europe. There were at least 100 people in attendance: all the Slovak youths, Bejt Praha regulars, Peter’s family (mother and brother, in addition to his wife and her sister) and Rabbi Abramovitz and congregants from the reform group at the Jerusalem Synagogue (outside the Jewish Quarter, but in the old city of Prague). Two young girls were placed on a cabinet on the stage to hold the Havdala candle as Rabbi Narrowe explained the history and mythology of the Havdala service. We all had wine and bread and a dish of spices was passed around to remind us of the sweetness of the Sabbath throughout the week to come.
The weekend festivities included movies and music appropriately geared to the young people. Rick and I took Rabbi Narrowe to U Pinkasů for dinner instead. This time we were given a table on the upper floor, more elegant than the pub below (tablecloths and cloth napkins), away from the noise of the bar, but with the same tasty fare (and, of course, the same fresh beer).

posted by JWinn @ 9:31 PM