morning service

[cellio]

That went really, really well.

We have a visiting musician this weekend (Danny Maseng), and he participated in the informal morning service. This tripled the attendance, which isn't surprising. I was the torah reader even though my rabbi was able to be there for the whole service. (There had been a time when that was in doubt, and when the doubt went away I asked if I could read anyway (I'd started to learn it) and he said sure.)

So I chanted torah, well, in front of a large crowd, my rabbi, and our cantorial soloist (who also usually doesn't come to this service). (And Danny Maseng, but celebrities who have no reason to learn my name don't spook me.) This portion had some unusual tropes, which the trope-literate noticed and commented on later. It'a a torah portion with some action in it, so I was able to make use of inflection and mood and all those things that turn a string of words into something with some expression to it. We were in a large room with so-so accoustics and I was able to project so everyone could hear, even while leaning over a table to read.

I received many compliments and I'm really pleased that everything came together so well. I'm also glad that I don't have much peripheral vision to speak of; one of the regulars (who was sitting right in front) told me later that my rabbi, who was acting as gabbai (checker), was (1) beaming and (2) doing the hand-gestures for the tropes as I read. The latter must have been for his own amusement, as he was standing slightly behind me so they couldn't fulfill their primary function. But, as it turned out, they didn't need to; I did get the trope wrong in one place, but I pushed on and I suspect only about three people even noticed.

I'm really glad I had the opportunity to do this. Sure, the egoboo is nice, but I feel that I did something good for the congregation as a whole, too, I hope including inspiring other lay people to participate.

And now, off to the concert that Danny is giving tonight. More later.

Comments

Re: hand gestures

[chaos-wrangler.livejournal.com]

I don't know if that's a general thing in this culture either, or just that it happens on occasion 'cause there are more than a few people in that shul who can read (which is good 'cause they don't have a regular reader) and sometimes there are disagreements about the correct reading based on tradition or based on who heard what misreading.