Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on May 11, 2014

Ohel Nechama is a modern, purpose-built Orthodox synagogue that is distinct in a number of ways and also provides a wide range of local community, cultural, and purposeful-social activity.

Modelled on the tabernacle and set in the affluent district of Talbieh, the shul is neatly sandwiched between the Jerusalem Theater and the Israel Bar Association, and just a stone's throw from the Presidents House.

Though segregated, women have the fairly spacious upstairs gallery rather than the same-level space behind the mechitza (partition) typical of many Israeli shuls.

In typical 1980s design, the ski-slope-shaped roof slopes upwards towards the Ark. Windows are clear rather than stained-glass, suggesting functionality rather than formality and nostalgia.

This fairly large (by Jerusalem standards) place of worship is one of the bastions of the mature-age Israeli religious-Zionist intelligentsia, although it is well-augmented by ideologically-compatible English-speakers resident in the locality. Derashot (sermons) and services are conducted by competent laymen. Operatic arias are generally discouraged, the tunes used being those well-known enough for the congregation to join in.

Occasionally, sensibilities may be jarred; when a concluding Shabbat morning piece was sung to "Fiddler On The Roof," disapproving muttering of anything goes could be heard from the more conservative element.

Hard times after Jerusalem's division

The intelligentsia characteristic originated in the congregations financially harder times, when the Hebrew Universitys faculties were hurriedly rehoused in different locations in the city following Jerusalems political division in 1948. Students originating from western countries wanted somewhere to pray that was in keeping with their strictly Ashkenazi nussach (rite).

In contrast to the splendid Hecht Synagogue on campus today, student-based shuls were makeshift and temporary, and indeed the present congregation strove hard to raise the capital for this impressive residence which finally went into service in 1984. It was named Ohel Nechama after Nechama Lifschitz, whose husband made the largest donation.

As in most Israeli synagogues, services are lively, and proceed rather than drag. Shabbat morning service finishes at 10:15, the congregation splitting into three different study groups. Two shiurim are in Hebrew and one in English, all merging together at 10:45 in the main hall for kiddush.

The rest is here:

Zionist intelligentsia present: The Ohel Nechama Synagogue in Talbieh, Jerusalem

Category: Synagogue
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