Thursday 15 May 2008 - 10 Iyyar 5768 What we are! About Minyan Ichud Olam Ichud Olam is a diverse and dynamic Modern Orthodox community of professionals and students from diverse geographical and cultural backgrounds, and from all across the religious spectrum, who have moved to Tel Aviv to live in the heart of the modern Jewish State. Through the efforts of our members we have grown into a warm and friendly community, active both on Shabbat and during the week, with services, shiurim and many other activities. Our community was born from the recognition of our wish to actively participate in a different type of service from the ones we had found in Tel-Aviv; one that was open to new tunes, was considerate of the role of women and, most importantly, one that started a little later in the morning! From our humble beginnings in January 2000, we have created a place for prayer that is warm and welcoming for our over 100 members, and many more guests, who regularly attend our services. Our minyan consists of new and veteran Olim from Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States, as well as many native Israelis. Each week more new people arrive at our minyan and we have nearly 150 people on Shabbat morning... and even more for kiddush. The strength of Ichud Olam as a community is in our cultural, ideological, and intellectual diversity. Each individual brings her or his views and ideas, strengths and talents, which taken together, creates a community with great potential. Recognizing this, Ichud Olam has worked to establish a diverse range of activities to realize that potential including chesed activities such as Bikur Cholim (visiting the sick) and charity drives, learning activities such as shiurim Sholars-in-Residence, and social/holiday activities such as Shabatonim, Purim Seudot, communal Sukkot meals and other commemorative holiday events. To most religious Jews, Tel Aviv is known as a city which once had a vibrant religious community, but whose younger generations moved out of the city. When visiting the many old Tel Aviv shuls, even the Great Synagogue on Allenby Street, one is met by a few old men who, often without a minyan but always with a smiling face, welcome the youth and beckon them to join. We at Minyan Ichud Olam believe that the Shul plays a crucial role in the religious life in Tel Aviv, filling the spiritual void that many young religious Jews felt in the city. Ichud Olam is proud to represent another facet in the multi-cultural setting of Tel-Aviv. In providing a home for young religious Israelis who had for so long felt the lack of a spiritual outlet in the city, Ichud Olam contirbutes to the distinctive Zionist Vision that this city represents. It is our hope to reverse the trend of old shuls dying out and religious communities leaving the city, by building upon our diverse religious backgrounds to reach out to the larger religious and secular community. We invite people from near and far to visit us and sample the unique synergy we are creating between the religious and secular world in this great city. To subscribe our weekly newsletter, please click here. To become a member of Minyan Ichud Olam please go to the Membership section of this web site. To subscribe our weekly newsletter, please click here. To become a member of Minyan Ichud Olam please go to the Membership section of this web site.