Ruach services

[cellio]

My congregation has double services for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur -- have to; we can't all fit in the space at once any more. It was decided early on that the early service would be less formal (still formal, but...) and the later one the more-traditional (at the time) Reform shindig with a hired professional choir doing grandiose performative music. To me that just sucks all the kavanah out of it -- they're performing, not leading prayers, and it shows. Also, they are not necessarily Jewish, so are not halachically qualified to lead prayers. Not my cup of tea. So fine, those of us who want a more spiritually engaging and authentic service can go to the early one, right?

Problem: on Yom Kippur we have stuff scheduled all day, so once you get there you don't need to leave until the end, which is great for letting us focus. But if you go to the early service you're left with a long stretch of time during which there's nothing to do (except go to the late service). The people who want to stay all day are, overwhelmingly, the people who Do Not Want the late service's style, but the Powers That Be refused to swap the services on Yom Kippur. They refused to even take turns, alternating year to year. I was on the verge of invoking reciprocity and finding some other synagogue to go to on Yom Kippur morning. It was bad.

So, three years ago when this came to a head, we created the "ruach" service, a minyan-style service concurrent with the late service, up in the chapel, with the kavanah that this small-but-dedicated group wants. My rabbi led this up until the torah service, at which point everybody goes to the sanctuary to be together for torah, the sermon, and what follows. It's a good solution.

Last year we added this for Rosh Hashana too. During that service, the timing got a bit off so my rabbi had to leave, and I concluded that part of the service on the fly, out of an unfamiliar prayerbook. But hey, I did it! For Yom Kippur he was able to stay for the whole thing, so that didn't repeat.

So that brings us to this year. Apparently my rabbi got a fair bit of flack for not being in the sanctuary for the entire service (we have another rabbi, and a cantorial soloist, by the way), so he said he would not be able to lead the "ruach" services and asked me to do it. (Frankly, I believe I'm the only layperson in the congregation with all of the skills needed to do so.) I consider this a great honor, and my rabbi prominently honored me on Rosh Hashana during the torah service, so that's nice. (Funny story there, actually -- below the line.)

We are using the draft of the new machzor (about which I wrote previously). Rosh Hashana went pretty well aside from timing; my timing was spot-on for the target they had given me, but the folks in the sanctuary were moving more quickly so we had to hurry at the end. It appears that we will also be short on time for Yom Kippur, so I've done my best to make it fit and trim optional parts. I've practiced all the unfamiliar parts for Yom Kippur, as I did for Rosh Hashana last week, and I think I'm ready.

And for next year, I'm going to ask for an earlier start. This service starts at the same time as the sanctuary service because that was the earliest the rabbi could participate (rightly needing a break after the first service), but if we can't have the rabbi anyway, why not start half an hour earlier?

(In case you're wondering how two services can start at the same time and yet the other gets ahead of ours -- it's because the sanctuary service, using Gates of Repentance, skips all sorts of stuff that ought to be in there, while this service (and the minyan out of which it grew) strives for something more authentic.)

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Here's the funny story: in recognition of my work with that service, my rabbi invited me to dress the torah (g'lilah) after it was read. There is another honor at that point, hgabahah, lifting the torah and turning around so everybody can see the text. This requires some coordination as you're holding the scroll overhead, from the bottom. The scroll we were using is also on the heavy side. But hey, I'm g'lilah; if the other person can handle that, the weight needn't concern me, right? The person who does the lifting then holds the scroll until it's time to return it to the ark.

So the other person was our associate rabbi. And he was helping to lead the part of the service right after this, so he couldn't hold it. So that meant me. That's still ok; just sitting there holding a heavy scroll isn't hard. Managing the prayerbook one-handed was a bit challenging, but I had that under control.

So, on Rosh Hashana we do the shofar service during the torah service (after the haftarah, for those who are curious). The shofar service is broken into three sections: a set of prayers and readings, then you stand for the shofar blasts, and then you sing s short song that's at a completely different place in this particular prayerbook. Then you sit down and iterate.

So as it turned out, I wasn't just holding the scroll in my lap. I got a bit of a workout! :-)

Also, did not prostrate during the Great Aleinu that fell during this time...

Comments

[magid.livejournal.com]

This is part of why I tend not to like fixed seating for services. Also because I get distracted by people super-easily, so being able to move a seat a couple of inches farther away helps me.