A New Year of Learning
August 12, 2009
When I was a child in grade school, I asked my parents if we could attend Friday night services. I wanted to go because all my friends from Hebrew school were there. My friends from Hebrew school were there because their parents made them go.
My classmates and I had a great time. During the service, we’d squirm a little, go out to visit the restroom a little, and become elated whenever the rabbi came to a passage in Hebrew that we knew and could read along with him.
During the Torah service (it was then the custom in our congregation to read Torah every Friday night) Rabbi Fuchs would choose a few of us to help unwrap the Torah scroll, or to dress it again afterwards. I remember the thrill of handling the silver rimonim, crowns, with their delicate bells; the heavy me’il, mantle, of soft velvet. The Torah’s finery reinforced our teachers’ lessons: the words inside the Torah are special, too.
The rabbi’s sermon was a challenge for us, but it never lasted too long. Sometimes we saw our parents listening intently. Sometimes we heard our parents talking about the rabbi’s sermon later that week; a couple of those sermons my father still speaks of today, some thirty years later.
We knew the end of the service was near because there was a lot of standing and some bowing, and then there was the rush to the oneg table, to be closest to the cakes and cookies once we had said the long Kiddush over wine and short motzi for the challah. I remember being amazed by the grownups who knew the whole Kiddush by heart. By the time my friends and I became Bar and Bat Mitzvah, we had memorized it, too.
Services always began at 8:30 PM, after Shabbat dinner at home. After the service, we were up past our bedtimes, fueled by sugary treats from the oneg table, and ready to take a few delighted, screaming laps around the foyer and the oneg hall. A lot of people stayed quite late, visiting, catching up, kids playing. The teenagers, I remember, would sometimes come to services and then go out afterwards with their friends. Pretty soon, I was one of those teenagers.
We did not go every week—sometimes we were out of town. Sometimes there was a school performance on Friday night. Sometimes my parents were too tired to get us all out the door. But pretty often, there we were, sometimes a few minutes late, hurrying into services.
At Temple Emanu-El, Religious School parents occasionally express concerns to me about their child’s Hebrew skills, about how well their child knows the prayers they will be expected to recite for their Bar/Bat Mitzvah service. I’ve heard from parents of our older students who regret that their child is not more involved with the synagogue, but explain, “he goes to a different school than most of the other students. He doesn’t have friends at Temple Emanu-El.
I can’t think of a better way to address these issues than to bring our students regularly to Shabbat services, which begin at 6:00 PM or at 8:00 PM on Friday, and at 10:30 AM on Saturday. Sometimes, after a 6:00 service, when it’s still early enough for a leisurely Shabbat dinner, we share dinner at the synagogue —those are usually the services led by our students, and afterwards the littlest ones are always doing laps around the social hall, screaming with pleasure. But every week there is an opportunity to hear the familiar Hebrew, to learn some Torah, to see friends or make friends, to pray, to enjoy the oneg, to be inspired, to connect with community.
Like my friends and me, some kids drag their parents to synagogue; but most kids go to synagogue because their parents make them go. Sometimes, once they’re there, we all have fun.
Summer’s drawing to a close, and at Temple Emanu-El Religious School we are preparing for a new year of learning, a new year of sharing our love of Judaism. Not only in the classroom, but in the sanctuary, too. I invite you to join us, soon.
Hidden High Holydays
August 12, 2009
When we imagine what to expect during this year’s upcoming High Holyday services, now only a few days away, the scene conjured is likely one of our synagogue filled from front to back; of fellow Temple members dressed in formal solemnity, and of the awesome majesty of the pulpit, liturgy, sermons and music. The “Days of Awe” evoke a heightened sense of grandeur, and as such, are for many of us, the peak of spiritual beauty. But for others in our community, that same majesty can be an imposing hindrance to spiritual elevation. I know that for some, the formality, the crowds, and even the duration of worship doesn’t quite serve the higher purpose. Perhaps that is why, as the years go by, more and more of our congregants experience their favorite High Holyday moments through the more modest and quiet services of the season.
The first such example would be our annual Selichot service (this year to be observed Saturday evening, September 12th). Selichot means “Penitential Worship”, and originally, the Selichot service was observed at midnight at the end of the last Shabbat preceding Rosh Hashanah as a means of anticipating and even entering into the spirit of the Holyday season. And although we have established the tradition of worshipping at the somewhat earlier hour of 10:00pm, the special time of quiet and reflection affords a unique opportunity for contemplation that may be more difficult to experience during the bigger services of the season.
The Selichot service includes most of the primary themes of the season, and although it is intended to set the stage for the High Holydays to follow, I know that for many of our members, it is truly one of the highlights. It has also become our custom, during that service, to dress the Torah Scrolls in their white mantles for the season. And yes, the service is somewhat brief – generally only a half-hour or so in duration.
Another such example of a more “hidden” service of the season would be our annual “Kever Avot” – a memorial service shared at our Temple Emanu-El Memorial Park in anticipation of the High Holydays. (This year, the service will be held on Sunday, September 13th at 12:00noon.) The service of “Kever Avot” (meaning “at our ancestors’ resting place”) is rooted in the longstanding practice of visiting the gravesites of loved ones during the High Holyday season. Some medieval, folk-beliefs held that our departed dear ones might have the ability to intercede on High on behalf of the living, particularly for the blessings of health, prosperity and goodness for the year to come.
Naturally, at the New Year, as at all festive seasons and occasions, our thoughts turn to our departed dear ones. We long for their nearness, while at the same time, feel close to them in our thoughts and prayers. So while our Cemetery Memorial Service lacks the formality and grandeur of the Yizkor on Yom Kippur afternoon, many find that the simplicity of the setting, and closeness of those gathered in our Memorial Park’s meditation garden is a moving and special highlight of the season.
All of us at Temple Emanu-El wish our members and their families a meaningful and inspiring High Holyday season ahead, and hope that the variety of opportunities for worship, reflection, and observance will enrich our entire community.
L’shanah Tovah!
