Shabbat (mostly)

[cellio]

Thursday night there was a board meeting concurrent with the evening minyan, so the rabbi got them to stop and attend the service. So we had a full house for once. :-) At the end he made assorted announcements (good & welfare), and he commented on my participation in the Sh'liach K'hilah program. (I think this was the first public announcement of that, though it hasn't been a secret or anything.) He said good things about me that made me happy, and the president of the congregation would like to meet with me soon to learn more about some of the topics we covered there.

The program is producing results already. I'm already organizing (and acting as cantorial soloist for) next Friday night's service; that was arranged in advance. And I just assumed that I'd be leading the Thursday services while he's gone, because that usually falls to me. That leaves next Saturday morning's service and torah study. I asked my rabbi if there was anyone in particular he wanted to have do either of those, and he said "you". Ok, I can do that. :-) Actually, while I expected that for the service, there's someone else he might plausibly have tapped for the study, and I'm not experienced with leading study (yet), so this will be a chance to learn something new.

Torah study this morning centered around the priestly benediction (the end of Naso, around the end of chapter 6 of Numbers). A question: how does anyone have the authority to give blessings (now)? All blessings come from God, of course, but we give each other small-scale blessings all the time, and rabbis are often asked for more significant blessings (such as at life-cycle events). But no one speaks for God, and we're all allowed to ask God directly for blessing, so doesn't that make a blessing either chutzpah or just a wish?

My rabbi pointed out that it is the person asking for the blessing who gives the blesser authority to do so. I'm not articulating this well now, but it made a lot of sense this morning. It's connected to trust and the relationship between the two people involved.

Someone I know from outside the congregation (she's not a member here) came to the morning service and really liked it. (I think she's been there a couple other times.) She asked me afterwards if you have to be a member of the congregation to read torah in that service. No one's ever asked before, and I'm certainly happy to be open about this (for people who are showing up anyway, as opposed to people who will only come when they get to read), so I said we'd be happy to have her. I then asked how much lead time she needs, and she said something like "a few days would be nice, or a week or two if I'm going to chant rather than read". I said that accommodating that would be no problem. :-) (Most of my readers want a month or so.)

The person leading the service gave me hagbahah (lifting the torah) today. I've never done that before. We're 80% of the way through the scroll, so it's kind of unbalanced. I had trouble holding it up straight, but I think I'd do ok with something more balanced or even something that favors the left hand instead of the right. (I'm a trained rightie but a natural leftie.) For those who are wondering, at the end of the torah reading it is customary to hold the opened scroll vertically and raise it up so everyone can see the text. You're supposed to have three columns showing (don't know why), but I only managed two today.

This afternoon and evening we had a bunch of people over for gaming. We played a new train game called Age of Steam that's like the 18xx games but simpler. (The railroad stock is abstracted away, there are fewer types of tiles, and the game is shorter.) It took a little while to get the hang of it, but I think I like it. We also played El Grande (my second time playing), and some people played a game that looked kind of like Civilization but simpler and shorter. It was a fun day, though we now have a surplus of cookies. :-) (You know how sometimes everyone brings chips, and sometimes everyone brings candy, and sometimes everyone brings drinks, and...? Well, today everyone brought cookies. There are worse fates.)

Comments

[sethcohen.livejournal.com]

For some reason, I often get hagbah. More often at this time of year than a few months ago, because I'm naturally unbalanced and therefore able to manipulate the scrolls when they are uneven. Of course, I have a problem *stopping* at three columns...

[goljerp]

You're supposed to have three columns showing (don't know why), but I only managed two today

I don't know why either, but that won't stop me from guessing... :-)

My guess is that three was a compromise between "Show 'em every thing we just read" (i.e. open it up as wide as possible) and the concern that some people would be embarassed because they couldn't open it up as wide (and when it's really open, it's easier to twist the scroll, which puts a lot of tension on the scroll)

I used to do Hagbah all the time -- I was the only under 30 male at shul, and one of 3 or 4 under 60 (not counting the Rabbi).

Now I'm older, and the shul I go to now has heavier Torahs, and I've decided upon a new policy: I don't do hagbah after Pinchas (end of Numbers, when the scroll starts getting heavy on the right hand -- I'm a leftie).