Shabbat in Aminadav -

This shabbat we spent with our wonderful son Aryeh and lovely daughter-in-law Orly in Moshav Aminadav. It is a small Moshav outside Yerushalaym which was established in the 1950's by Yemmenite Olim. It is located on one of the mountains that surround Yerushalayim.

Shabbat we went to the beit haknesset and it was my first experience with Minhag Teiman prayer. Though long (over 3 hours in the morning) I was entranced by the word for word reading aloud of the Tefilah by one of the congregants and a little hypnotized by the monotonous niggun. The havara was also fascinating with the Cholam enunciated in a variation of the Litvisher "Ey" and the segol as "O", similar to a kametz by us. The Kryat hatorah was also interesting where some of the Olim Latorah chose to read their own segment and did it surprisingly well. Also I found interesting that they first took out one sefer together with a sefer Haftarot which they placed next to each other on the Bimah and only took out the sefer Maftir at the end just before reading in it. No hagba'ah was performed on the second sefer. Hallel was also interesting as everyone said it to themselves until Odecha. There the chazan said the Pessukim aloud until the end of hallel and the kahal repeated each passuk loud. In other words they did not repeat it, just said it passuk bepassuk. Rambam in Hilchot Chanukka 3:11 says that repeating the last pessukim is a minhag. It apparently has not taken hold in Teiman.
יא יש מקומות שנהגו לכפול מ"אודך, כי עניתני" (תהילים קיח,כא) עד סוף ההלל, כופלין כל
דבר ודבר שתי פעמים. ומקום שנהגו לכפול, יכפול; ומקום שנהגו שלא לכפול, אין כופלין

The most wonderful thing about Shabbat was to be with our loving children, seeing the love and warmth between them. It was a feast for all our senses, literally, emotionally and spiritually. No one makes a better Cholent, Morrocan Fish, artichoke, matbucha and babaganoush than Orly and Aryeh prepared. This and the beautiful setting with a gorgeous view of Yerushalayim on all sides made for a memorable experience.


ב יְרוּשָׁלִַם-- הָרִים, סָבִיב לָהּ:וַיהוָה, סָבִיב לְעַמּוֹ-- מֵעַתָּה, וְעַד-עוֹלָם.
2 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, {N}so the LORD is round about His people, from this time forth and for ever