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weekend so far
Yesterday afternoon Ralph and Char joined us for gaming. Ralph wrote it up already, so I'll just point to his journal for the details. Summary: Car Wars (new edition), Princes of Florence (Rio Grande), Cosmic Encounter (ancient and venerable edition), and Settlers of Catan. The first two were new to me, and I would definitely play them again (with some tweaks in the case of Car Wars).
Friday night I went to New Light for services. They are a small, friendly congregation that -- like my own and unlike some other local ones I've visited -- is not devoid of people approximately my age. I get the impression that they are thriving, not dying back. Several people noticed that I was new and made a point to greet me and introduce me around. I said to several people variations on "I walk past your building every week on my way to services so I finally decided to stop in", which I hope gives the impression that I already have a congregation and am not shopping, but that I would like to visit sometimes. (One person did point me at their brochures for prospective members.) This is a place I would be happy to visit from time to time, and they might become my standard second-choice preference.
There were about 35 people there, I'd guess. Someone told me that this was a bit low; the rainstorms we were having probably kept some people away. They have about 85 or 90 famlies, I'm told. There was a nice little oneg shabbat where people actually sat down at tables rather than just milling around. This made it easier to initiate conversations with people I didn't know.
Service geekery ahead.
They did all of kabbalat shabbat, rather than just picking a couple of the psalms the way they do at Tree. They had various members of the congregation lead English readings (from the floor -- it's a small place so that works). One of the members of the congregation gave a short talk. (I never found out if the person on the bima leading services was their rabbi or just a lay person. I didn't get to meet him.) They put the talk between kabbalat shabbat and ma'ariv, which probably makes more sense than where it's usually placed around here, which is during ma'ariv before aleinu. They did the silent amidah but did not do a chazan's repetition. I noticed that I was one of the last people to finish and they waited for us stragglers. They did mostly different melodies from the ones I know. They had mixed seating and some of the readers were women. (No idea if they give aliyot to women, as I wasn't there Shabbat morning.)
Friday night I went to New Light for services. They are a small, friendly congregation that -- like my own and unlike some other local ones I've visited -- is not devoid of people approximately my age. I get the impression that they are thriving, not dying back. Several people noticed that I was new and made a point to greet me and introduce me around. I said to several people variations on "I walk past your building every week on my way to services so I finally decided to stop in", which I hope gives the impression that I already have a congregation and am not shopping, but that I would like to visit sometimes. (One person did point me at their brochures for prospective members.) This is a place I would be happy to visit from time to time, and they might become my standard second-choice preference.
There were about 35 people there, I'd guess. Someone told me that this was a bit low; the rainstorms we were having probably kept some people away. They have about 85 or 90 famlies, I'm told. There was a nice little oneg shabbat where people actually sat down at tables rather than just milling around. This made it easier to initiate conversations with people I didn't know.
Service geekery ahead.
They did all of kabbalat shabbat, rather than just picking a couple of the psalms the way they do at Tree. They had various members of the congregation lead English readings (from the floor -- it's a small place so that works). One of the members of the congregation gave a short talk. (I never found out if the person on the bima leading services was their rabbi or just a lay person. I didn't get to meet him.) They put the talk between kabbalat shabbat and ma'ariv, which probably makes more sense than where it's usually placed around here, which is during ma'ariv before aleinu. They did the silent amidah but did not do a chazan's repetition. I noticed that I was one of the last people to finish and they waited for us stragglers. They did mostly different melodies from the ones I know. They had mixed seating and some of the readers were women. (No idea if they give aliyot to women, as I wasn't there Shabbat morning.)