oh, that makes it easier...

[cellio]

Yesterday the person in charge of this asked me if I can read torah in two weeks, which will be the Shabbat in the middle of Sukkot. All the holidays (and their intermediate days, as in this case) have special torah readings, so I asked what it was. No one present remembered. I said sure, I'd take care of it; I could look this up at home. I hoped I wasn't biting off something that would be too hard on that timescale, but figured I could roll with it, whatever it was.

I pulled it up in Trope Trainer today (forget about its cantilation features; it lets me print nice big copies to practice from!) and started to read. I fell into chanting it easily -- too easily. Err, wait a minute, I recognize that turn of phrase. Heh -- I chanted this exact passage last winter. Ok, this just got easier. :-)

The Sukkot portion is from Ki Tisa, after the incident with the golden calf when Moshe talks God into giving the people another chance and they make the second set of tablets. There's a reference to Sukkot somewhere in there, which might be why it was chosen for this holiday, but I can't help noticing the parallel between the servicable fragility of the sukkah and the fragility of our people's relationship with God at that point in time -- and, perhaps, individually since then. So maybe I'll work that idea up into a d'var torah.

Comments

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

I meant that Shabbat. Yes, 10-15 minutes Fri night, 5 minutes before Torah reading in the morning to explain what we will read, a 20 minute sermon, a 45 minute class before mincha and another 10-15 minutes during seuda shlishit (the third meal, served in the shul between mincha & maariv).

[cellio]

That'll keep you busy. Does your minyan usually load up one person like that, or is this an unusual case?

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

No this is the usual expectation for the rabbi of that shul. They are between rabbis, so they are taking students to give them experience. But boy is that a lot of work.

And in addition, this will be an unfamiliar group, so I also get to feel out the dynamic of the shul while speaking. Should be a good experience (I hope).