It’s been a busy semester, but Molly was finally able to get back to her Jerusalem Synagogue Adventures this Shabbat. For Kabbalat Shabbat services, Molly attended Mevakshei Derech, a community that recently joined the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism.

Here is Molly’s Top 5 of Her Visit to Mevakshei Derech:

1. This wasn’t actually the first time I tried to attend services there. The first time I went, they had just changed their service time to an hour earlier, so I missed services. This time I had confirmed that services would start at 5:30 pm. I arrived at 5:25 pm and the place was completely shut down - no lights, doors locked, no one there. So I walk around the corner just to check things out. When I return no more than 3 minutes later, the synagogue is up and running - lights are on, doors are unlocked with a welcoming committee standing by. An impressively quick turn around.

2. This community chooses not to have a rabbi. Their Executive Director/Cantor Iris Beth Weiner, leads services. She sits in the congregation for Kabbalat Shabbat, and then stands up for Ma’ariv.

3. This was an atypical Reform congregation in that their biggest crowd is for Saturday morning services. Upon arrival, there were about four other people there, and by the end we had a minyan. Cantor Weiner reassured us that Shabbat Shacharit is definitely the service to come to.

4. Our good friend and summer intern, Chaim Shalom was there! Apparently Mevakshei Derech is where Chaim does his student internship.

5. After Kabbalat Shabbat and before Ma’ariv, the Cantor started a friendly discussion of the weekly Torah portion, which soon became a hot debate among the Cantor, Chaim, and the man sitting behind us.