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cellioMy rabbi is in Israel this week. I assumed that this meant that the associate rabbi would lead tonight's service, but he had to be somewhere else. I found this out about 4 minutes past the scheduled start time when someone walked in with this information. So we looked at each other and the rest of them nominated me to lead it. This went ok except that if I know I'm going to be doing this I practice the intermediate blessings of the Amidah once out loud, so I'm not reading them aloud cold. I'm still slow with Hebrew, though these words are becoming familiar, and in this particular siddur the vowels are small enough that I have trouble seeing them. Maybe I should make myself a large-print copy of that text and leave it in an out-of-the-way place in the chapel.
The rabbi usually gives a short sermon on Thursdays, but when we got to that part I said "hey, you saw how much warning I had; I'm not prepared". I then surprised people by naming the parsha and describing it in about 2 sentences. I then offered to let someone else give a sermon on no notice, but had no takers. :-)
One of the people brought her 12-year-old daughter, whose bat mitzvah will be in June, and asked if she counted in a minyan. (The question ended up not mattering tonight.) I said that she'd have to ask the rabbi for a definitive answer but my suspicion was that in our congregation, the answer is "no". I then explained my reasoning: the Talmud says that a person is bar or bat mitzvah (obligated to fulfill the commandments) at puberty, which is defined as 13 for boys and 12 for girls (girls mature faster). Actually, the original ruling was that it occurs when two pubic hairs develop, but this rapidly got codified, presumably to avoid embarrassment. So anyway, one of the principles of the Reform movement is egalitarianism; men and women have the same obligations and follow the same rules. So my guess is that this means girls have to wait until 13, because 12 is too early for boys. (If an Orthdox Jew were to tackle this question, which of course he wouldn't, I would expect him to say "obligations at 12, privileges at 13, for both", just to be safe. I wonder what the Conservative movement does.)
At this point the person who asked the question wanted to know if I had been to "rabbi school". Someone else who was listening to this exchange said "this is Monica; she knows everything". :-) (I find this a bit frightening, actually...)
The rabbi usually gives a short sermon on Thursdays, but when we got to that part I said "hey, you saw how much warning I had; I'm not prepared". I then surprised people by naming the parsha and describing it in about 2 sentences. I then offered to let someone else give a sermon on no notice, but had no takers. :-)
One of the people brought her 12-year-old daughter, whose bat mitzvah will be in June, and asked if she counted in a minyan. (The question ended up not mattering tonight.) I said that she'd have to ask the rabbi for a definitive answer but my suspicion was that in our congregation, the answer is "no". I then explained my reasoning: the Talmud says that a person is bar or bat mitzvah (obligated to fulfill the commandments) at puberty, which is defined as 13 for boys and 12 for girls (girls mature faster). Actually, the original ruling was that it occurs when two pubic hairs develop, but this rapidly got codified, presumably to avoid embarrassment. So anyway, one of the principles of the Reform movement is egalitarianism; men and women have the same obligations and follow the same rules. So my guess is that this means girls have to wait until 13, because 12 is too early for boys. (If an Orthdox Jew were to tackle this question, which of course he wouldn't, I would expect him to say "obligations at 12, privileges at 13, for both", just to be safe. I wonder what the Conservative movement does.)
At this point the person who asked the question wanted to know if I had been to "rabbi school". Someone else who was listening to this exchange said "this is Monica; she knows everything". :-) (I find this a bit frightening, actually...)
IANAR
Date: 2002-03-08 02:15 pm (UTC)At this point the person who asked the question wanted to know if I had been to "rabbi school". Someone else who was listening to this exchange said "this is Monica; she knows everything". :-) (I find this a bit frightening, actually...)
Yep, people ask me that on occasion (well, actually they ask if I'm going to JTS, because, well, I live about 20 blocks from it.)
It's sad that so many people think that only rabbis know stuff... but it is cool that you were able to lead services. I don't think I could at this point, at least not without preparation. Lots of preparation...
Gotta wrap up, shabbat is coming!