worship gimmicks

[cellio]

During the "how to lead worship" class, the rabbi asked us to each describe one unusual thing that we've seen in worship (that seemed to work). Here's the list I transcribed (with my comments in brackets):

• A group sits in a circle for Shabbat morning services. Instead of putting a table in the middle of the circle for the torah reading, they have two people hold the scroll vertically and the reader reads from that. They like it because it provides two more opportunities to participate in the service without having to know very much.
• A congregation got a new torah scroll; they unrolled it completely (as some do at Simchat Torah) to show it to the congregation.
• Also on the "unroll the torah all the way" theme (this time at Simchat Torah), one congregation has each of that year's b'nei-mitzvah students find and stand with his portion.
• One congregation has last year's b'nei-mitzvah students come back for their portions again, either to read or just to do the aliya. [We do this sometimes.]
• I talked about how we go around the circle to say our names and answer the question of the week.
• At the end of the morning service, one congregation has everyone stand in a circle, hold hands, share joys and sorrows of the last week, and then sing something upbeat. [Personally, this is a higher level of touchy-feely than I'm comfortable with. One of the service groups did something like this, and I noticed that several people seemed uncomfortable with the enforced participation.]
• An informal minyan puts the food out before the service, so people schmooze and nibble before prayer. [I am aware of the halachic issues when this is a morning service. I don't think most people care.]
• A small group without its own space (I think they meet in a library or community center) places a chupah (wedding canopy) at the entrance to demark the space in a Jewish way.
• One group uses drumming during meditation.
• One group invites people to say something they're thankful for right before the thanksgiving prayer (the hoda'ah).
• Several groups have homegrown siddurim (prayer books). One person pointed out that it provides a real sense of ownership in the service to the participants.
• One congregation doesn't line up who will do candles and kiddush in advance; they just invite people up, and multiple people are fine (they say the blessing together). (I failed to note the size of the congregation.) The person who talked about this said that they get a sense of cameraderie over time, and it's very easy to grab a newcomer and have him join you in the group (so he feels involved from the start).
• Someone invites children up for some part of the service. [We invite them up at the end of the Friday-night service for the final benediction and the cookie blessing.]
• One congregation has parents bless their children during the Friday service. (This is normally done at Friday dinner, when people do it at all.) Someone else has all the adults bless all the children collectively, to avoid alienating those without children. [For me, that last part doesn't achieve the goal: if you make something fundamentally about children and I don't have them, it's real hard for you to include me in a way that matters to me. So do it or not, but don't do it under a false premise of inclusion.]
• One congregation has created a new (mini-)life-cycle event: when a kid gets his learner's permit, they invite him up for a blessing and give him a keychain with a tiny copy of t'filat ha-derech (the traveller's prayer) on it. [I like the keychain! I wonder where I can get one, having failed to note who this was. :-) ]
• For a community havdalah, instead of trying to gather everyone around the candle (which doesn't let most people get very close), they give everyone one of those glow-sticks that lights up when you break it.
• For community Shabbat dinners, one congregation has each family bring its own candlesticks instead of using generic ones. This leads people to share family stories (many candlesticks are passed down from generation to generation).
• One rabbi has a cloth bag with several pieces of paper in it, and one lucky kid gets to draw that night's sermon topic out of the bag. [I speculate that there is duplication, perhaps 100%. :-) ]

Comments

[cellio]

Thanks! Where do I send how much money?

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

Don't worry about the money; they're not expensive. Plus, I don't remember exactly how much they are. I'll try to pick one up tomorrow when I'm doing my shabbos shopping.