Day 3: Kosher in Kingston Av

The Bagel Shop across 7th Avenue set the tone for the day as we went for a Blueberry and Cream Cheese bagel for breakfast... New York Style AND Kosher, and this was good as we tried to find Subway 3 to catch out to Crown Heights to start our Hasidic Walking Tour. Having taught about the Hasidim in Studies of Religion for many years, I was really looking forward to getting up close and personal with some Hasidic Jews... and the tour did not disappoint.


Just before 10am we were met by a grey bearded man at our assembly point in Kingston Street Crown Heights. Beryl Epstein looked very much the part with his black hat, black suit and tzitzit hanging from his garments. WE went downstairs into the library for our introduction to our fellow tourists, an extended American family from New Jersey and us. We were introduced to Hasidism by learning about the persecutions in Eastern Europe under the Russians and others. We also learned that each Hasidic sect draws its name from the town in Eastern Europe where they come from. Beryl went on to explain the importance of outreach in the Chabad Lubavitch sect. He spoke a lot about souls and how getting to know the Souls of others is central to relationship. He also explained the teaching on the Mitzvot and why it is that Jews have the obligation to keep the 613 mitzvot, when those who are not Jewish must keep the 7 laws of the Noahic covenant. After some Q&A it was off to the shul, just across the road. We were ushered in a back door and escorted into the women's section behind the Mechitzah where Beryl explained the lively scene taking place on the synagogue floor. He had explained that it is the lead up to the High Holy Days and that the size of the community swells at this time so that the synagogue was bustling. All over the floor, small groups of men in individual minyan were praying, there were literally hundreds of people praying in  Devekus and placing on teffilin. Some were standing on the bimah and others were crammed around anywhere they could fit. I did feel a little sorry for the three women who were trying to attend to their prayers behind the mechitzah while we were meeting.

After question time in the synagogue it was off to 770 Eastern Parkway Crown Heights. This is the world wide centre of the Chabad Lubavtich movement and we posed for  a photo opportunity at the doorway before going around the back and upstairs to a rare manuscripts display which contained original manuscripts dating back to the 1500's and earlier, retrieved from places like Venice. These rare manuscripts included parts of the Mishnah Torah written by Moses Maimonides, pieces of the Babylonian Talmud and other rare works. It was quite overwhelming to know that these things were still in existence. So very special. We then went into what was the Rebbes house up until the death of the last Lubavitch rebee over 20 years ago. We saw the telephone room where recorded speeches by the Rebbe would be sent out each week by phone link-up world wide and that happened even in the 1950's. Antique but fascinating. The room also housed a huge photo of a gathering of 1000 Hasidic men at a conference right out front of 770.

The next stop was a store with Judica supplies and we learned a little about the foods for the upcoming festival and saw translations of the Torah which have the English and then the English commentary all together. There are five books in this translation which I think is fabulous. After the store it was upstairs to a tiny two roomed workshop where four men in total were making Tefflin,   the small leather boxes that are bound to the head and the heart by observant Jews. They are shaped from leather from the underside of a cow' s chin and they are painstakingly formed, a tiny handwritten parchment with the Shema and 3 other verses is tied with the hair of a kosher animal and placed inside and then sealed. Mezzuzah are made in a very similar way. We even saw a tiny tiny pair of Teffilin that were made to secret during the Holocaust.

That left only one stop.... the Kosher deli for lunch... Yum. Baguette with Chicken and pesto for Liz and Kosher hamburger (no cheese in sight) for Chris.  It was a great way to finish as Beryl continued his fabulous stories... so Hasidic... and promised to send the name of a colleague in Sydney who would be happy to come and speak to the girls for SoR. Sounds good to me. So with that we bid farewell to the tour members, wandered back down to the Kingston Av Subway and went back to Manhattan and a brief hotel stop before some shopping.

Then it was time for Mass and we had decided to go to St Francis in W 31st where they have contemporary music and Choir at their 5pm Mass. Wow... the music was something else and the preaching was inspired too. I understand why the church was packed. The mosaic behind the sanctuary is beautiful and features various characters and places from Francis of Assisi's life. Having been to Assisi it was great to sit there and pick them out. But perhaps the most moving thing about the church was the twisted metal sculpture over to the side. It features 3 pieces of tortured metal recovered from Ground Zero and from its centre grows a gold rose, symbol of hope from disaster. The metal was given to the church in honour of Franciscan priest Fr Mychael Judge, the FDNY Chaplain and a victim of 9/11. He sounds like he was an extraordinary man, a rare model for inclusivity in our church and one of the many lives drawn to a close too soon in the wake of that tragedy.

We left church, went up to collect some goodies for Sarah's shopping list before dining on W35th and 6th at a Steakhouse with alfresco tables. Quite an experience and the meal was lovely. With SIM card working now it was good to be able to ring Mum and message the gang back home. Then back to the hotel, to blog a bit, work out how to get the photos off the camera and on to the blog and then bed. This travel stuff is exhausting when jet lag catches up to you!