Temple-hopping

I've been to three synagogues in two weeks and each has a completely different feel. Which is good — I expected quite a bit of variety in a city with one of the 10 biggest Jewish populations in the world. At times I would stare into space blankly during the Spanish-language sermons, but when the Hebrew prayers started back up I felt right at home. With prayers in Hebrew, Jews can participate anywhere in the world. I also spent much of services zoning out and thinking about things more entertaining than synagogue, which is something I do in American synagogues quite a bit as well.


The fun came after services, though. After kiddush at the first synagogue, the Conservative Kol Amijai, the 25 or so congregants filed upstairs into a small room to talk some Torah. I sat in between two gentlemen whose combined age was likely in the low 200s. Torah Talk also included Snack Time, so while the Rabbi said some Jewish stuff I didn't understand, I was keeping my eye on the bags of candy and biscuit cookies circulating around the table. 


At least three of the oldsters had brought their own alcohol, which quickly began making its rounds. I went for a yummy smelling red liqueur that tasted exactly like Cherry NyQuil, only it made me feel better. 


I spent this past Shabbat evening at one of the Chabad houses in Palermo, my district of the city. I felt slightly sacrilegious pulling up to shul in a taxi but I'm pretty sure no one noticed. I was able to walk right in this synagogue, unlike Kol Amijai, where as a newcomer, I needed to sound a buzzer and talk to the security guard, who essentially interrogated me about my character and intent, and even threw in a few Jewish trivia questions, before granting me access to services. I don't blame them though. With radical Islamic terrorist groups setting up shop in neighboring Paraguay and Brazil, in the middle of Catholic country, I'd probably be cautious too. 


Throughout services I was distracted by all the glorious facial hair surrounding me. I don't know if beards grow at a faster rate in Latin America but I'd be willing to wager a buck or two. The coup de grace came when I saw the rabbi and his interminably long, gray beard for the first time at the pulpit in the center of the room. I did a double take. I swear I thought he was wearing a novelty beard from Party City. ZZ Top has nothing on Rabino Shlomo Levy. The thing stretched easily down to his belt buckle. His beard can't even be captured on camera in its entirety.


After services I stuck around for Chabad's patented free Kosher dinner and singling out of an uncomfortable Mark Abadi. I picked a seat in the crowded room and was asked to scoot down one, unaware I would now be sitting next to Rabbi ZZ Top. He slapped me on the back and rubbed my head a few times throughout the night but I think he did that to all the guys. After some small talk he turned to the person on his other side and I let out a sigh of relief that nearly blew out the Shabbat candles. 


Luckily for me I was not the only foreigner to receive a L'chaim; also present were a Brazilian woman and a group of Israeli girls who sounded awesome when they said "muchas gracias" with an Israeli accent. The meal was incredible, and very well may have constituted my first portion of vegetables since arriving in Buenos Aires two weeks ago (I'm up to three now!). I spent the majority of dinner studying the individual strands of ZZ Top's beard as they cascaded down his face and meandered onto his pants.


Saturday morning I took the subway to a Sephardic synagogue that had the most people of the three, at least 150. I actually had no idea what was going on during services as people were either talking or shushing the people that were talking, making it impossible to hear. However I was impressed that the book rack in front of each seat came installed with a  drop-down shtender, one of my favorite pieces of Jewish equipment.


I stuck around for a small lunch. A kid asked me where I'm from and when I said the United States he asked me if I liked the L.A. Galaxy soccer team. He's not the first person to ask me that, so I'd imagine Major League Soccer officials would be happy to hear their brand is making its way overseas. The reason is most likely David Beckham's short stint with the team, but I'd like to think Landon Donovan's World Cup performance sparked an international interest in American soccer. 


I imagine wearing fancy clothes makes you a target so I tried especially hard not to get mugged on the way home.