Friday night

[cellio]

At the oneg I received a rather effusive compliment on my torah reading on Rosh Hashana. I'm impressed that this long after the event someone sought me out to praise me. Nifty.

During the service I realized why I have a reaction that I do to one small bit. Our service leaders almost always face the congregation. There are points in the service where one is supposed to bow toward the ark (which is at the back of the bimah); the norm is for the leader to turn around at that point and do so. Someone on our bimah (not my rabbi) sometimes does the bow but doesn't turn around (so bows toward the congregation). This bugs me. I understand why it was happening (the reasons no longer apply but the pattern persists), but it still bugs me.

Last year after the Sh'liach K'hilah program there was a discussion in comments in my journal about which way the chazan faces, though not this particular detail. The article I'd read (that started the discussion) asserted that when the chazan faces the ark (to lead much of the service, not just these bowing bits) it facilitates more private prayer than when he's facing the congregation. That may be true, but it's just part of it.

When the chazan stands in the front of the room, faces the ark, and bows, he is leading us in prayer. He is our representative, our sh'liach tzibur, almost our stand-in, before God. Whose representative is he when he bows toward us?

I had this epiphany Friday night. It is as if the person bowing toward the congregation is representing God in the transaction. And that's just wrong. We do not presume God's participation and response in our prayers.

I don't mind the chazan conducting most of the service facing us; I understand how seeing a back for the entire service could be alienating to some. But there are parts where I'd rather the person turn around and be our representative.

Comments

[sanpaku.livejournal.com]

Da lifnei mi atah omeid. The thing that is really awkward about our bimah is that if you turn around for the amidah you need to turn the microphone toward one side, since the desk is really big and meant for torah reading. So for the last year we have been playing around with having a shtender in the middle of the pews at which the person leading services faces toward the ark. Some of the oldies don't like it and some of them still prefer to lead from the bimah. But gradually both our leaders and congregants are getting used to the leader facing toward the ark at all times. For all of my kvetching about my shul, this is something that really has improved (from my POV) over the last year.

I also think that most of the discomfort of congregants is not from looking at someone's back but from the fact that the rabbi and the president now don't sit on the bimah, so people have no faces to look at on this big, stage-like bimah. The eastern wall is supposed to be populated with the congregation's leaders, perhaps just for this reason. Oh well.

You will like this piece on synagogue architecture and how the direction of the prayer leader (really, the lectern) reflects the different movements' attitudes toward prayer and congregational participation. If you don't have an academic password somewhere or don't feel like going to the library I can email it to you.

[cellio]

The thing that is really awkward about our bimah is that if you turn around for the amidah you need to turn the microphone toward one side, since the desk is really big and meant for torah reading.

We had fixed mikes too. Still do, for extra people like those with aliyot. However, we've now moved to personal mikes on the service leaders, so they are no longer constrained by the sound system. I like your solution too.

If you don't have an academic password somewhere or don't feel like going to the library I can email it to you.

I'd appreciate that. I don't have a password and would like to read the article.