Day 2: Shabbos

(Sorry there are no pictures due to synagogue regulations.)
Shabbos comes in during this time of the year at about 7 p.m. Which was the case this week.
Services are held together with the community at the Knesseth Eliyahu Synagogue, built by the Sassoon family in the 1880's. In old days the neighborhood where the shul is was full of Baghdadi Jews, so this shul is known as a Baghdadi Shul. The shul is located on a quiet street right off one of the main roads in the area.
The Shul is set up in traditional Sephardic style. Walls painted light blue (interior/exterior). Bima in the middle, no amud in the front. Benches surrounding, lining the walls as opposed to rows. Balcony for the women. etc.
The Sassoon family built 8 shuls, 4 schools, and 3 hospitals among other municipal and commercial institutions throughout Bombay and before they emigrated in 1920 they established a trust fund to support the shuls which they bequeathed to the community. Some of the properties which they owned now belong to the trust fund and thereby generate income.

Unfortunately there are not many locals who come to daven. In the late 50's most of them emigrated to Israel, so there are only a few old men who come religiously and are a bit familiar with synagogue proceedings. There is one man "Hazaken", officially he is the Gabbai but pretty much all he does is stand on the bima together with the chazzan and sort of 'referees' the tefilla. Then there is Ben Tzion, originally from Baghdad, who is the shamash. I'm not exactly sure how that is expressed in action, but thats his title. Otherwise the minyan is made up of the visiting entrepreneurs and tourists which are directed there by Rabbi Holtzberg from Chabad.

So, this week, our first Shabbos/day in India, we walk in late (of course! since we were sleeping because of jetlag). Well in truth we werent really sure where we were going and the traffic in Bombay is impossible to get through. There are 4 painted lanes of traffic and 6 in actuality. Cars (taxis by the millions and private), buses, mopeds, trucks, rickshaws, bicycles all in droves non-stop! In simple terms its really hard to cross the street with out risking 9 lives.
We come in to the shul and there are a handful of Israelis some locals and everyone whom i mentioned before, and the Rabbi. (This was actually the first time that i met Rav Gabi.) A yid from Flatbush was mechubad with davening Kabbolas Shabbos and he did a nice job not withstanding the terrible heat and the deafening noise made by two industrial fans.
After davening "Hazaken" and Ben Tzion say kaddish a good few times for some unapparent reason and we then proceed downstairs and out the door.

The walk home takes about 20 minutes, between dodging wild indians on horses, I mean in cars, and keeping up with Gabi we made it back to Chabad. Inside everything is bright and cool, the servants are wearing matching suits and the table is set for about 30 people. I'm sure you can imagine how the meal went, just like any other. After some divrei torah by the Rabbi, the guests are requested to introduce themselves and say a little something or other.
"Hi, my name is Yitzchak, I live in Flatbush and I'm here on business. Gut Shabbos
"Hi, my name is Alon/Baruch, I'm originally from Belgium (he has a slight french accent), I now live in Riverdale and I'm partners with Yitzchak." etc. etc.
I sat next to Gavriel, from Forest Hills, he's originally from Tashkent and I mentioned about my family living there doing the war and we chatted a bit in Russian. Some of the others just to mention a few were an Israeli fellow working in high tech, a member of the consulate, a mathemitician and his wife who is from Japan, a french guy working with a French bank and some of his friends, an israeli couple touring and Roi (Row'ee) with whom i had a long conversation with after the meal and he got really mad at me because of the fact that i was never in Israel.
In the morning there was pretty much a repeat performance only this time we werent the last to show up. It took a while for the minyan to come together but eventually we met somewhere near Nishmas. After prayers the people at Chabad put on another spectaculart meal and yet again for melaveh malka. With that shabbos ended quite peacefully culminating with (a smelly) kiddush levana on the streets of Bombay.
Almost. Then Roi walked in.
We had a wonderful melave malka, watched some 'living torah' and said good bye to this weeks guests. Just as we were about to bentch Roi rolls in and he has some questions about what the Rebbe just said to someone about separate kitchens for Jewish college students on campus. Which led to a 3 hour conversation. On one side a "Chiloni" Israeli, and on the other some Chabadniks trying to explain some basic premises of yiddishkeit to an uneducated yid.
All that goes well ends well.
Bs"d thats all for now.