cellio | Shabbat

My torah chanting Friday night went very well. I got lots of compliments, and even one from the synagogue grouch. :-) I got there early so I could look at the scroll and my rabbi checked me on a practice run; I think that helped boost his confidence in me, so when I hesitated once or twice (just a bit) during the actual reading he let me try to fix it before jumping in.

The first time I chanted torah in the remodelled sanctuary I read from the largest scroll we have, the reading started at the top of the column, and the adjustable desk was set very high, which meant I was practically lying on the desk to get close enough to read. (No actual contact with the parchment, which I was careful about, but it was a challenge.) This time, the reading again began a column (easy to find! yay!), but it was in the small scroll and the desk was set very low (for the bar mitzvah, I gather) -- which meant I was leaning way over. This was noticed by the shul director, who told me that next time we'll figure out the correct height for the desk for me beforehand. :-) (Most people do not have the problem I have in this area, because most people can read text from a couple feet away instead of 8-10 inches.) The real challenge of leaning way over is actually breathing more than appearance, though apparently it was the latter that caused people to think "we've gotta fix that". I should ask the cantorial soloist for advice on the breathing part. I have a new appreciation for what -- I'm told -- is the Sephardi style of reading torah: the scroll is held upright (in a case), so I presume the reader can stand up straight and read. (Does he do so with his back to the congregation, I wonder? Otherwise you wouldn't be able to see him at all, I'd think.)

I chanted again this morning and that, too, went very well. Leading the service also went well, but then afterwards someone took me aside and said I'd read the wrong haftarah. What? It's not Rosh Chodesh or a holiday (the times when you swap in special readings); I read the haftarah for B'midbar, this week's portion. Somehow, I had been completely unaware that when Rosh Chodesh is, specifically, on Sunday, there is a special haftarah for the previous Shabbat. Um, ok. I don't know why, but at least now I know to be on the lookout for this circumstance. (And, sight unseen, I would have taken it over the harlot imagry I read from the regular reading today...)

On the Shabbat of memorial-day weekend my rabbi always does something to acknowledge the holiday. Last night he read excerpts from a moving eulogy given at Iwo Jima by the first rabbinic chaplain in the Navy. The rabbi prepared the eulogy for a general memorial service (all religions), but chaplains from other religions objected to a Jew being allowed to speak at a combined service, so they ended up splitting people up by religion and only a small group heard the eulogy. Ah, here it is. Thank you, Google.

Shabbat

literally