Part 8: Day 6, Friday
Today was our only unprogrammed non-Shabbos day. I got up and walked to shul, so we would know how to get there and back without a map or directions on Shabbat. It took About 25 minutes brisk walk, probably 30-35 strolling.
Came upon a fellow Yid walking the opposite direction, a few blocks from the shul — he was carrying Tallis and clearly heading to daven. He saw me looking for the shul, came across the street to greet me, offer direction to Beth El (he was going to Shevet Achim, the Sephardic shul). He pointed me in the right direction. I said Shabbat Shalom. He said Good Shabbos and asked if I had a place to eat (for Shabbat meals). Wow.
I then walked another five minutes, found the shul, endured the security inquiry — was useful I had my passport.
Entered the shul, found the beautiful beit Knesset, and 7:10 davening began about 7:15. They begin with mizmor shir.
Davening was sweet. They incorporate a little bit of singing in both psukei and Ahava Raba. They say ashamnu before tachanun. They sing Al Tira after alenu.
After davening , they have breakfast every morning — eggs , empanadas, juice, coffee. Today was a special enhanced breakfast because it was sponsored by a family in honor of the first yahrtzeit of a man who had been president of the shul. They had lox, shakshuka, more varieties of pastry. I spoke with the avel, Adam, guy in early 30s who had studied at MIT and did research at MGH.
After davening and breakfast, I went to get a bottle of wine from Deli K market, which is a little difficult to find, at least as a pedestrian. It’s located underground, below the MultiPlex (not to be confused with the Multi-Plaza, where the girls found KKD and which is a high-end mall with Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, etc.). The MultiPlex seems to be below the Hard Rock Hotel/Casino. In any case, I went to get wine so that I could bring it back to the shul and give to Rabino Laine, who was hosting us for dinner that night. I had suspected that he might not use an eruv so wanted to get him the wine before Shabbat, rather than bring it to shul. The Deli K is a great market. Not as well stocked and not nearly as much prepared food as a place like Pomegranate in Brooklyn, but same idea. Their wine selection was very extensive.
After dropping off the wine to Beth El, I stopped by Shevet Achim to take some pictures of their shul. It was beautiful -- my pictures don’t do it justice. I then walked to Darna Bakery, where I met my family for breakfast (well, my second breakfast). This is a really lovely setting for dining. After breakfast, our girls took an Uber back to the hotel, where they spent the rest of the day until Shabbos by the pool. DW and I walked back, stopping again at Deli K to pick up a few more provisions, and making sure we could retrace our steps so as not to get lost on Shabbat.