this morning
May. 2nd, 2002 10:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cellioThis morning I chanted Torah at Tree of Life. It went very well, and I feel great about it!
When I got there they asked if I wanted to lead the entire service, but I declined. (I'm a little shaky on a couple parts -- can follow but not necessarily lead. Maybe I can do this in six months to a year.) I don't know how many people knew I was going to be chanting Torah; I think it was a surprise to most of the congregation. It certainly seemed to be a surprise to the rabbi.
They gave me the first aliya, so I just walked up there with David (the regular Torah reader) at the beginning of the Torah service. (I took the opportunity to whisper in his ear that I was relying on him to actually find the beginning of the parsha in the scroll for me, which he had already been planning on.) The first aliya went, I believe, perfectly, both in terms of text and in terms of trope. For the second aliya, I had a little trouble finding my preferred starting pitch, and ended up doing it about a third higher than I had intended, but I did it correctly. But it didn't match the first one, and I'm picky about my own music. It's probably not a flaw that anyone else would really call a flaw, but I noticed.
David did the third aliya. I plan to learn that one for next year so I can do the whole thing, but it was too much to bite off for this year. (Initially David wanted me to just learn one, but when I nailed that one pretty quickly he gave me the second -- but too late to then tackle the third, which is much longer than the others.)
I stayed up there after this part of the service and led the concluding prayers (Aleinu etc), which they offered after I declined doing the entire service. That part I can do!
I got lots of compliments on the Torah reading, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy. I'd like to do it again sometime (before a year from now, I mean). David asked me if I wanted to come back and do it Shabbat morning, but I'll be at a Shabbaton. I wonder how he would have handled it, given that I don't know the entire first aliya for Shabbat? (The first aliya for the Shabbat reading is subdivided into three smaller aliyot to make up the weekday reading.)
Now I get to do it again at the Shabbaton on Saturday, except I have to remember to combine these two aliyot into a single one. (Minor trope change -- not hard but I have to remember.)
When I got there they asked if I wanted to lead the entire service, but I declined. (I'm a little shaky on a couple parts -- can follow but not necessarily lead. Maybe I can do this in six months to a year.) I don't know how many people knew I was going to be chanting Torah; I think it was a surprise to most of the congregation. It certainly seemed to be a surprise to the rabbi.
They gave me the first aliya, so I just walked up there with David (the regular Torah reader) at the beginning of the Torah service. (I took the opportunity to whisper in his ear that I was relying on him to actually find the beginning of the parsha in the scroll for me, which he had already been planning on.) The first aliya went, I believe, perfectly, both in terms of text and in terms of trope. For the second aliya, I had a little trouble finding my preferred starting pitch, and ended up doing it about a third higher than I had intended, but I did it correctly. But it didn't match the first one, and I'm picky about my own music. It's probably not a flaw that anyone else would really call a flaw, but I noticed.
David did the third aliya. I plan to learn that one for next year so I can do the whole thing, but it was too much to bite off for this year. (Initially David wanted me to just learn one, but when I nailed that one pretty quickly he gave me the second -- but too late to then tackle the third, which is much longer than the others.)
I stayed up there after this part of the service and led the concluding prayers (Aleinu etc), which they offered after I declined doing the entire service. That part I can do!
I got lots of compliments on the Torah reading, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy. I'd like to do it again sometime (before a year from now, I mean). David asked me if I wanted to come back and do it Shabbat morning, but I'll be at a Shabbaton. I wonder how he would have handled it, given that I don't know the entire first aliya for Shabbat? (The first aliya for the Shabbat reading is subdivided into three smaller aliyot to make up the weekday reading.)
Now I get to do it again at the Shabbaton on Saturday, except I have to remember to combine these two aliyot into a single one. (Minor trope change -- not hard but I have to remember.)
(no subject)
Date: 2002-05-02 08:37 am (UTC)It could have been worse. You could have been one of the dozen or so Jews damaged for life by listening to me lead mincha and maariv last night... 8^)
(no subject)
Date: 2002-05-02 10:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2002-05-03 12:20 pm (UTC)No, seriously, they all survived. Most of them were treated and released.
(no subject)
Date: 2002-05-02 09:20 am (UTC)"I had a little trouble finding my preferred starting pitch, and ended up doing it about a third higher than I had intended, but I did it correctly."
I did that with an acapella solo I did for church ("Wade in De Water"), I topped out my range, but it failed to suck. Kinda scary when it happens, though.
Yashar Koach!
Date: 2002-05-02 12:30 pm (UTC)If you want to read torah at my minyan, we're always looking for people... :-)
Re: Yashar Koach!
Date: 2002-05-02 01:44 pm (UTC)If you want to read torah at my minyan, we're always looking for people... :-)
Sure, just bring 'em by. Email me for directions from the interstate exit in Pittsburgh. :-)
Mazal Tov & Yasher Kochacheh
Re: Mazal Tov & Yasher Kochacheh
Date: 2002-05-03 06:41 am (UTC)Re: Mazal Tov & Yasher Kochacheh
Date: 2002-05-03 06:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2002-05-03 04:54 pm (UTC)I haven't been an aliyah since my brother's bar mitzvah, and at the time it was considered radical for a single woman to be an aliyah at our (reform) synagogue at a bar mitzvah. (It still is; they have them come up with someone else at most synagogues out here.)
aliyot
Date: 2002-05-05 12:54 pm (UTC)I go to Tree of Life weekly, and I'd estimate that they give me "bimah honors" (either an aliya or galilah, dressing the Torah) probably about 15 times a year.