I'm not a rabbi, but this is the Shabbat when I played one at my synagogue. Overall, that went quite well!

( Friday night )

( torah study )

( bar mitzvah )

All together, this was the longest torah portion I've learned (one chapter, 23 verses, one full column -- and it had the decency to actually fall out as one column, so I didn't have to roll the scroll mid-reading). I read different, overlapping parts Friday night and Saturday morning; I didn't read all that at once. I realize that to some of my readers this sounds piddly; a full parsha is generally three or four chapters (sometimes more), and readers routinely prepare that much. My congregation doesn't read the entire parsha -- never has, so far as I know. But still, this was a milestone for me.

I need to get some hair clips or something. Because I have medium-length hair and need to get fairly close to the torah scroll to read, my hair was hanging down while I read Friday night. It wasn't blocking my view, but a couple people told me that it meant they couldn't see my face. I wouldn't have thought that my face would be an interesting visual target at that point, but I guess I'm wrong. I think wearing a ponytail on the bimah would seem too casual and unprofessional, so I need to figure out something more decorative. I haven't got a hair-aesthetics gene, so this could be interesting.

I really enjoyed this stint in my rabbi's shoes, and I hope I get to do it again someday. I have high hopes that sometime this fall I will lead a Friday service when my rabbi will be there to see me.

Today is Lag b'Omer, which (goofy as it may sound) is a traditional day for haircuts. [1] I've been meaning to get a few inches of split ends trimmed off anyway, and I remembered seeing what's probably a suitable provider of said service a few blocks from where I work. So I wandered over there, only to find them closed.

Oops. Foiled again.

I don't really know what to do with hair. I like it long and I don't want to have to fuss with it (anything more than "wash, towel dry, comb" is too much work), so I haven't given it much upkeep. It reached a natural endpoint on length a while back that's not as long as I'd like, but oh well. I hear I've got a bad case of split ends, but since I can't actually see them myself I don't tend to remember that. I wonder if trimming a few inches would even help. I'm willing to iterate on small trims over a year to fix the problem, but I'm not willing to cut it short.

( footnote )