Yesterday I arrived and brought the Southern California weather with me here to Washington DC! Apparently it was the first day of sun for the local DC people after such a major winter season with lots and lots of snow! I met Rabbi Lynne Landsberg and her husband, Dennis and they welcomed me with open arms and graciously invited me to stay with them. They live in the Chevy Chase area and because it was so warm and sunny – I had a chance to take a nice long walk to wear off the jet-lag. That night we arrived at Temple Micah and were formally welcomed by Rabbi Esther Lederman. This is the second synagogue where name tags were set on the side table as people walked in so that everyone would know and feel welcomed into the synagogue. The program began at 6pm with delicious fruit, humos and crackers plus song and greetings outside in the foyer. We lit the candles, bless the wine, the challah and then we walked into the sanctuary for the actual service. It is exactly like our Kabbalat Shabbat that we do on the fifth Friday of the month at TAE. It created a lovely atmosphere of welcoming the Shabbat.

Traveling so far to the other side of the country, one may assume that I did not know anyone. Wrong. I saw a few friends from the Jewish Deaf community of DC plus I saw congregants from TAE! Who did I see? Well, Dr. Iceland and his wife Jan have been members of TAE for many years and Dr. Iceland has done an excellent job with my teeth. His daughter, Stephanie and her husband moved to Washington DC several months ago. They had been searching for a synagogue and by luck they found out that I was going to be at Temple Micah that night. So they decided to come and surprise me plus check out Temple Micah. It was wonderful to see them again and to see how they are doing, as they will be going overseas for work shortly. I think they enjoyed Temple Micah as I introduced them to Rabbi Esther Lederman who is the assistant rabbi at this synagogue. Rabbi Zemel was on a congregational trip to Israel so he was not able to be there. The congregants welcomed me and they enjoyed my presentation tremendously. The sanctuary is quite modern surrounded by wooden floors and walls. Beautiful Hebrew quotes around the borders of the room. The ark was quite unique as each Torah has it’s own little Ark as they stood next to each other. The congregation uses the Mishkan T’filah. The junior choir also participated in the service and they were such a delight to watch. When they sang V’sharmru- many kids who go to Jewish camps- know that this is the song that they stand up in the middle of it. Well not only did the kids stand up, but also the adults were going along with it. It was a fun sight to watch! I must admit that Shirei Elohim- the TAE junior choir is the best choir of all! I miss them so much so here is a kiss to all of you little ones and keep singing your hearts out!