Good, bad, and different
The good news: The synagogue member who took an ambulance ride last Shabbat returned this Shabbat looking much healthier--and with yet another new stent. I joked that s/he collects stents as a hobby.
The bad news: Our chazzan/cantor became just ill enough to be unable to continue leading the service, and my husband had to take over in mid-Shacharit (Morning Service).
And now, for something totally different: Given that my husband had just led most of Shacharit and had chanted the haftarah--note that Haftarat B'Shalach is the longest of all the haftarot--I volunteered to lead Musaf (the "Additional Service"). I warned the congregation that I hadn't led Musaf in roughly 20 years. It didn't occur to me until afterward that I had actually never led Musaf on Shabbat/Sabbath at all--at our former shul/synagogue, we skipped all but the Kedushah section (don't ask--weird prayerbook), and at our long-defunct egalitarian chavurah/prayer fellowship, we skipped Musaf completely. I'm happy to say that, aside from Birkat Kohanim (the Priestly Blessing), which we never say to ourselves, I managed not to mangle Musaf too badly.
I'm even happier to say that the chazzan was back to his usual self by Shacharit on Sunday.
The bad news: Our chazzan/cantor became just ill enough to be unable to continue leading the service, and my husband had to take over in mid-Shacharit (Morning Service).
And now, for something totally different: Given that my husband had just led most of Shacharit and had chanted the haftarah--note that Haftarat B'Shalach is the longest of all the haftarot--I volunteered to lead Musaf (the "Additional Service"). I warned the congregation that I hadn't led Musaf in roughly 20 years. It didn't occur to me until afterward that I had actually never led Musaf on Shabbat/Sabbath at all--at our former shul/synagogue, we skipped all but the Kedushah section (don't ask--weird prayerbook), and at our long-defunct egalitarian chavurah/prayer fellowship, we skipped Musaf completely. I'm happy to say that, aside from Birkat Kohanim (the Priestly Blessing), which we never say to ourselves, I managed not to mangle Musaf too badly.
I'm even happier to say that the chazzan was back to his usual self by Shacharit on Sunday.
posted by Shira Salamone at 10:30 AM
3 Comments:
My usual complaint applies--when posting from my office computer, I can no longer use the mouse in the "Compose" window, which makes correcting errors almost impossible. I'll clean up this post at home.
Yashar Kokheikh! Taking on new or rusty tasks in shul is nerve-wracking for me, but it's so good to be able to fill the community's need, especially when you're the hero of the hour.
Thanks, Maya. I was davvening at about 90 miles an hour due to pure nervousness, but, with my long-standing reputation as our local synagogue's main "inside agitator" :)--I'm copyrighting that one--it certainly felt nice to be the hero of the hour, for a change.
Post a Comment
<< Home