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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe trend now in London is virtual reality. where your senses step into another world, feeling, seeing, hearing and even smelling the sensations of a bygone era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once you step into a synagogue on Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur you do feel as though you have left the outside world and stepped into a virtual reality, but it is in fact real and present. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having found it too hot on Yom Kippurim to walk to the only Shul in Eilat where the service felt even slightly familiar, (there are very few Ashkanazi services in Eilat), we decided one year, before Covid, to take ourselves to the Grand Synagogue in Jeruslaem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There we didn\u2019t even need to step inside to be swept along with the atmosphere. Our eyes were amazed that the streets were packed full of men in white and flowing tallitim (prayer shawls) and white kippot,(yarmulke) hurrying to take their seats. The women and children were dressed also only in white. It really was like a virtual reality experience ,as we had never seen that in the UK, where life continues as normal and you are the only ones rushing to the services, dodging the traffic, wondering if you can press the button for the traffic lights even ! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once inside this beautiful building, which is based on the second temple, you not only see with your eyes but you feel with your soul the unique and special atmosphere of a living Judaism that is hard to find in the diaspora. The sounds that emanate from the 25 strong chazzanim (cantors) bring the prayers to life and you are instantly lifted to another reality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Above is a dazzling chandelier and the light streams through the stained glass.On Kol Nidre, the stream of coloured light gradually faded and enveloped us into a peaceful darkness. Whether religious or not one cannot help but forget everything outside and connect totally with the services and soak in the spirituality and focus solely on the meaning of these special days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel has like many destinations become very expensive, and in order to enjoy what Jerusalem has to offer on these holidays, one must take a hotel near by and include the meals. It is such a lovely experience which will stay with one for life that it is perhaps one of those special experiences that are worth doing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even if one cannot get to the ultimate destination of Jerusalem, the whole of Israel changes its face over these days. A calm descends, the roads are empty and that lovely Chagigi feeling wraps around the country. In the less religious areas, the Kol Nidre night of Yom Kippur is known as the Night of the Bikes, as the children take over the roads which are free from traffic and thousands of small kiddies on bikes play safely in the streets while their parents welcome in the fast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel is known as the land of miracles and the reality of living there is at times unreal. The change in the political temperature between Israel and Saudi Arabia could well be termed a modern day miracle recreating the spice route connecting Europe, India and the Middle East. The scheme that has been backed and promoted by the Biden Administration would boost trade between the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Europe and India. It would allow exports from Asia to Europe bypassing the bottlenecks and expenses of the Suez Canal\u05b6. The implications for a regional long lasting peace, which was previously unthinkable, are now tangible. A train from Haifa to Dubai running through Eilat would be a dream come true for those living in the southern most town .<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year we will be saying our prayers in Woodside Park Synagogue in London, which feels very welcoming but I know we will miss the uniqueness and completeness of the holidays in Israel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the High Holydays be peaceful, so we can all welcome in the New Year in our own unique and preferred way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shana Tova , G\u2019mar Chatima Tovah<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Carolyne tell us about celebrating in Israel The trend now in London is virtual reality. where your senses step into another world, feeling, seeing, hearing and even smelling the sensations of a bygone era. Once you step into a synagogue on Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur you do feel as though you have left the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-from-israel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2076"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2078,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076\/revisions\/2078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}