Minyannaires and Regulars--on the life and death of a synagogue

[Note: This should have been posted yesterday,
But I didn't finish writing it 'til today.]


I said a brachah for the blossoming tree
on the corner by me
and another brachah
for the blooms that were under the tree

Way cool
I've made two brachot already
And I'm not even at shul

yet

Speaking of which, speed it up, lady!

I'm always the last one standing,
literally--
in the middle of the Amidah.
That's partly because I'm the world's slowest davvener
and partly because I'm always late
But even though I know that they can't wait
I go anyway, in the hope that, at least,
I'll help them have a minyan for Mourner's Kaddish at the end, at any rate

Over breakfast, while I was still praying
they were saying
that, in the past seven years or so
we'd lost enough guys to make a traditional minyan
S. must be in seventh heaven
up in heaven
No more early-morning phone calls
Now, he has 10 men on call
Just hanging around all day
ready to pray
Waiting for him to lead Barechu
As he always used to do

They were talking about the ones who are gone
because we'd just lost another one
and the funeral was after the minyan

I used to call him Raash Gadol, Big Noise(maker)
He was an incurable yacker
But with a heart of gold, always there when he was needed

Hey A., say hi to S.
and the rest of the minyannaires up there
And the Shabbos crew, too
like C., whom we used to walk home from Mincha-Maariv
every Saturday night
We told her we needed her for protection
since she was the one with the cane, good for clobbering would-be muggers :)
And Ms. 82, another member in good standing
of the Shabbos and Yontif Regulars

Notnim r'shut zeh lazeh l'hakdish l'Yotzram
They give one another permission to sanctify their Creator,
Whose glory fills the earth
in which they now rest

While we, earth-bound but still "on this side of the grass,"
remember them in our thoughts and prayers
as we watch our community dwindle,
one by one,
lost to the Mal'ach haMavet, the Angel of Death
We lost 10 members last year alone

Pretty soon, there won't be enough people
to support the synagogue that we call our own