cellio | morning service

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.

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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 behind me so they couldn't fulfill their primary function.

Or possibly he was doing them out of habit, if he often reads or acts as checker for others.

Btw, I find it interesting that you translated "gabbai" as "checker". It made sense in context, but I'm used to the main function of a gabbai in this situation to be in charge of calling up the next aliya, making sure the correct brachot are said at the correct times (e.g. that the one for after reading isn't said before), and suchlike. Or maybe that's because in the synagogue I've been most familiar with recently, the rule they try to enforce is that only the rabbi gets to correct the reader and tell him when to go back and reread, because otherwise too many people can/will do it.

He was doing those other things too.

I am sometimes confused by the word "gabbai" because I have heard it referred to both the checker(s) and the person who chooses aliyot and otherwise makes the service run smoothly. When we talked about service logistics my rabbi said "I'll be gabbai for you", which is what led me to use the word here.

the rule they try to enforce is that only the rabbi gets to correct the reader and tell him when to go back and reread, because otherwise too many people can/will do it.

Oh, that would be frustrating. In any given service we have one person who gets to make that call; that's the rabbi if he's there but otherwise one of the lay people will be designated in advance. We don't have a culture of people just calling it out from the congregation, fortunately.

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.

Have I mentioned that I'm really impressed and pleased by your growth in your ability to be a religious leader? Brava.

Thank you.

I never would have predicted this a decade ago. :-)

Cool. Torah reading in my minyan was a bit less polished than usual, because a regular Torah reader wasn't able to make it due to sickness (and we found out when he didn't show up). On the other hand, his custom of reading is very fast and with minimal trope, so I guess we wouldn't have gotten the trope anyhow. (He was reading the first and third aliyot, so we did the d'var first while one person went to the back and practiced. The person who gave the d'var then went on to read from the torah, sans trope. I actually prefer that to someone reading from the chumash with trope while someone else "follows along" in the torah.)

As far as hand gestures, maybe he didn't realize how far back he was, and how poor your peripheral vision is.

Oops. I've occasionally wondered what happens when a service leader or torah reader wakes up sick on Shabbat in a congregation where people don't use the phone.

I actually prefer that to someone reading from the chumash with trope while someone else "follows along" in the torah.

Agreed. There is no halachic requirement to chant; reading from the scroll is far better than chanting from a chumash. And if you don't have anyone prepared to read from the scroll, just don't do the torah service. You can still read the portion as study; you just don't say the blessings.

As far as hand gestures, maybe he didn't realize how far back he was, and how poor your peripheral vision is.

I'm guessing that he wasn't trying to communicate, because he never said anything about it when we talked about logistics. (And, I don't know most of the hand signals anyway. I mean, I know they kind of look like the trope symbols, but with some of them that's not much help.)

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