Shiloh Night Scene

Tonight, after Shabbat, I went down to a neighbor's house to hear of her trip to China and teaching Chinese Hebrew and some Tanach, Bible. When I stepped out, I saw the amazing Mishkan, Tabernacle synagogue all lit up.

Recently, there has been major renovations done to the synagogue, which includes the lighting. I think it's gorgeous.

Now, if you're not yet aware, the synagogue was designed to follow the description in the Bible of the Mishkan, which was a traveling/portable tabernacle, prayer hall, used by the Jewish People during the forty years wandering the wilderness from Egypt to the Holy Land, and then reassembled on a permanent platform in Shiloh, where for 369 years it was the forerunner of the Holy Temple later built in Jerusalem. And the Biblical location of Shiloh is today's Shiloh, where I live. So, when the families that first moved to Shiloh in the late 1970's wanted to build a large community synagogue, it was obvious that it had to resemble the Biblical Mishkan, Tabernacle.

Rami Levy, Not Just a Supermarket and Politician..

I'm not sure that there's one of these in every branch of the Rami Levy Discount Supermarket, but the shul, beit knesset, synagogue in the Sha'ar Binyamin Branch is very popular.

There's no Ezrat Nashim, women's section, so I haven't dovened there, but I have borrowed the books for Mincha, the afternoon prayer and for Tehillim, Psalms when I've somehow forgotten mine.

It's nicely furnished with high quality-looking seats.  Throughout the afternoon and evening, there are calls on the loudspeaker for men to come and pray.  Besides that, there are set times, and some men come in especially to join in the dovening with a minyan.

Rami Levy doesn't market himself as a religious person, but he offers the Torah observant Jews the services, no pun intended, they need.

He's a member of Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat's party and a city councilman.  I hope that Levy uses that sensitivity to the needs of the Torah observant also in that position.