What I learned from visiting almost every synagogue in Melbourne

Melbourne may have more shules than its population seems to justify, but every one has a distinct raison d’etre.

Two years ago, I decided to visit every synagogue in Melbourne, or at least as many as I could get to. I estimate that there about 80 synagogue services on a regular Shabbat in Melbourne and I have visited about 70 of them – writing about the experience in The Jewish Independent and on my blog.

I have tried synagogues of every flavour, from Haredi to Reform, domed architecture to classroom cluster. The only synagogues excluded from my experiment were those that I couldn’t walk to on Shabbat, such as Doncaster, Dingley and a few others.

I went to each shule with no judgement and wrote only about what I saw. On a couple of occasions this got me into a little bit of hot water, when I observed the chaos of constant noise, or by contrast, when I commented on intense silence that made me feel unwelcome.

I have learned three main things from my synagogue cruising.

The first is that the vast majority of congregations, even those that I thought would be insular and closeted, like the Haredi Adass Israel, were welcoming and inviting. In almost every shule I went to, at least one person came up and introduced themselves and made me feel welcome.

The second lesson is that every shule exists for a reason. Each is different, despite looking and feeling like a recognisable Shabbat service. Some were founded independently, others as breakaways, but each has a niche and distinctive style.