After the Institute #3: Mizmor, Shir l'Yom HaShabbat*
The two highlights of my week at the National Havurah Committee Summer Institute 2008 were davvening (praying) with a minyan every weekday (which enabled us to hear and respond to Barchu, Kaddish, and Kedushah, and to be present for a Torah reading on Thursday morning)--a rare privilege, these days, at our local synagogue--and all the singing on Shabbat/Sabbath, both at the services and during the meals. We had a wonderful time Friday night sitting around Pierce Hall and singing all manner of music, mostly Jewish, but some secular, too, and singing z'mirot (Sabbath songs) around the lunch and dinner/seudah shlishit tables. I also got a particular kick out of the baal t'fillah (prayer leader) for Pesukei D'Zimrah leading us in singing our way through all five of the Halleluyah psalms,** and was very glad, indeed, that I'd made it one of my liturgy-learning projects, a few years ago, to learn the ones that I didn't know. What fun! I'm looking forward to going back next year and getting my batteries recharged.
*Mizmor, Shel l'Yom HaShabbat, a Psalm, A Song for the Sabbath Day (Psalm 92)
**See Psalms 146-150 here
*Mizmor, Shel l'Yom HaShabbat, a Psalm, A Song for the Sabbath Day (Psalm 92)
**See Psalms 146-150 here
posted by Shira Salamone at 7:30 AM
3 Comments:
I also got a particular kick out of the baal t'fillah (prayer leader) for Pesukei D'Zimrah singing his way through all five of the Halleluyah psalms
That was me! Did we meet in person last week? (I assume that your blognomen is a pseudonym.)
Glad to see that you enjoyed the Institute!
I don't think we met formally (and certainly not under this name :)), but I was the older woman (59) at the daily Shacharit (Morning Service) who thanked the minyannaires for giving me and my husband the privilege of davvening with a minyan on a weekday. I was also one of the older folks singing z'mirot (mostly harmonizing, which I do at the drop of a yarmulkeh) in the Hampshire dining hall at Shabbat lunch and dinner/seudah shlishit (and dancing a bit, too, as I recollect--you can take an Israeli folk dancer out of Israeli folk dancing, but you can't take Israeli folk dancing out of an Israeli folk dancer :) ).
I was going to say that I was the older woman in tallit and tefillin, but we're not so rare at the Institute, which is certainly a refreshing change of pace for me.
I'm looking forward to more opportunities to harmonize. (Could I put in a good word for including Birkot HaShachar [the Morning Blessings] in the service, though? I don't think I'm the only one who's unaccustomed to the Minhag Yerushalmi [Custom of Jerusalem] of saying Birkot HaShachar privately before the service.)
Oops, I forgot--Rav todot/many thanks for linking to my Institute posts!
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