Monday, July 03, 2006
Shabbat in Sydney
7/1/06
As I said in a previous entry, I had plans to go to Temple Emanu-El, a Masorti congregation in Woolahra. When I asked at the front desk how long it would be to walk, they scoffed at the idea. In reality, it was only about 25 minutes in each direction and a pretty straight path at that. If nothing else, it was a good workout.
Temple Emanu-El is both a Masorti and Progressive (Reform) synagogue with multiple services each Shabbat. The Conservative service began at 9 a.m. with barely a minyan (the ten people that constitute a “quorum” at a Jewish service) and ended with about 35. Some of the tunes were quite different, and some of them were the same only with different emphasis on the words and syllables. Some of the customs are different from anything I’d seen in the United States (or Israel for that matter) but seemed to go with the flow of the service.
From what I could gather, they are anticipating the arrival of a new rabbi, though the woman who led services (not sure if she is a rabbi, cantor, or lay member of the congregation) was very sweet and energetic. She admittedly tripped over some words and tunes, but there was obviously enough spirit in the room to help her through.
After the walk back to the hotel, we enjoyed a nice lunch and then I enjoyed a nice nap. Thankfully my roommate came back around 5:30 p.m., which woke me up in time to get ready for our evening technical meeting – which I thought started around 6:30 p.m. but actually commenced at 8. The technical meeting was relatively quick and painless, though I still am not really happy with how the women are picking some of their partners for events.
Because of the small numbers (22 men, 11 women) and the fact that there are a number of athletes without full teams to compete with (some countries only have one bowler) we will have a few world teams. For the women, there will be one doubles team and one trios team that is a world team, determined by a blind draw. That means that one woman will not be able to compete in the doubles, but will bowl with a pacer, and two women will bowl with a pacer for the trios. Though there is no other way to select the groupings, something just didn’t sit well with me. Adrienne seemed okay with that decision, so I’m going with it.
For the men, there will be a double team made of a USA bowler and a Venezuelan bowler (my friend Emil … he wants to bowl with me but I’m going to wait until the results are in from the singles to make that final decision).
The night ended with a walk up to Kings Cross, which is only a few hundred meters from our hotel. It’s not the nicest area but there is always activity there. Emil, Moshe and Yifat (from Israel), and I ended up at a bar right next to the hotel for a few beers. We were (un)fortunate to witness some girl’s 18th birthday … she looked like she was in bad shape.
Tomorrow the real fun begins. We have our practice session in the morning followed by the Opening Ceremonies. Before the ceremony, I have been invited with a few other Team USA athletes (and possibly other athletes) to a reception at the Governor’s mansion. Pictures to follow …
As I said in a previous entry, I had plans to go to Temple Emanu-El, a Masorti congregation in Woolahra. When I asked at the front desk how long it would be to walk, they scoffed at the idea. In reality, it was only about 25 minutes in each direction and a pretty straight path at that. If nothing else, it was a good workout.
Temple Emanu-El is both a Masorti and Progressive (Reform) synagogue with multiple services each Shabbat. The Conservative service began at 9 a.m. with barely a minyan (the ten people that constitute a “quorum” at a Jewish service) and ended with about 35. Some of the tunes were quite different, and some of them were the same only with different emphasis on the words and syllables. Some of the customs are different from anything I’d seen in the United States (or Israel for that matter) but seemed to go with the flow of the service.
From what I could gather, they are anticipating the arrival of a new rabbi, though the woman who led services (not sure if she is a rabbi, cantor, or lay member of the congregation) was very sweet and energetic. She admittedly tripped over some words and tunes, but there was obviously enough spirit in the room to help her through.
After the walk back to the hotel, we enjoyed a nice lunch and then I enjoyed a nice nap. Thankfully my roommate came back around 5:30 p.m., which woke me up in time to get ready for our evening technical meeting – which I thought started around 6:30 p.m. but actually commenced at 8. The technical meeting was relatively quick and painless, though I still am not really happy with how the women are picking some of their partners for events.
Because of the small numbers (22 men, 11 women) and the fact that there are a number of athletes without full teams to compete with (some countries only have one bowler) we will have a few world teams. For the women, there will be one doubles team and one trios team that is a world team, determined by a blind draw. That means that one woman will not be able to compete in the doubles, but will bowl with a pacer, and two women will bowl with a pacer for the trios. Though there is no other way to select the groupings, something just didn’t sit well with me. Adrienne seemed okay with that decision, so I’m going with it.
For the men, there will be a double team made of a USA bowler and a Venezuelan bowler (my friend Emil … he wants to bowl with me but I’m going to wait until the results are in from the singles to make that final decision).
The night ended with a walk up to Kings Cross, which is only a few hundred meters from our hotel. It’s not the nicest area but there is always activity there. Emil, Moshe and Yifat (from Israel), and I ended up at a bar right next to the hotel for a few beers. We were (un)fortunate to witness some girl’s 18th birthday … she looked like she was in bad shape.
Tomorrow the real fun begins. We have our practice session in the morning followed by the Opening Ceremonies. Before the ceremony, I have been invited with a few other Team USA athletes (and possibly other athletes) to a reception at the Governor’s mansion. Pictures to follow …
# posted by Matthew Halpern @ 1:08 AM 
