Post-Yom Kippur thoughts

I was shaliach tzibbur (prayer leader; lit., "the representative of the community") for the minchah (afternoon) service today. I think it went pretty well; one person came into the hall with me afterwards just so she could thank me for "a moving tefillah." (My shul has three rooms in use on Yom Kippur; I was sha"tz in room #2 although my seat for the other services was in room #3, which is why I had left the room.) That quick word of thanks was worth ten times more than anyone complimenting me on getting the technical details right.

But I wish we would set up a system where, in addition to assigning a shaliach tzibbur in advance, we'd assign someone to lead (i.e., trigger) the congragational responses. It's very unnerving to get to a point where you, as sha"tz, know that you're supposed to wait for the congregation to recite something without you, and be met with a few seconds of silence before someone realizes what's going on and starts. (This is a problem on Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur because so much of each service is sui generis, so everyone really needs to be paying attention.) At ne'ilah, the last service of the day, the sha"tz turned to me just before he started and said "can you try to get everyone singing when they should?" --- so I'm not the only one who feels this way, but neither of us thought of it before today.

As I've become more adept at navigating the unfamiliar words of the Yom Kippur prayers, I find they have less emotional resonance for me. It probably doesn't help that as I've become more observant, the gap between what is and what should be has narrowed. So something to work on for next year is to get back to a point where the prayers are able to force me to confront my shortcomings.

Post-Yom Kippur thoughts

I was shaliach tzibbur (prayer leader; lit., "the representative of the community") for the minchah (afternoon) service today. I think it went pretty well; one person came into the hall with me afterwards just so she could thank me for "a moving tefillah." (My shul has three rooms in use on Yom Kippur; I was sha"tz in room #2 although my seat for the other services was in room #3, which is why I had left the room.) That quick word of thanks was worth ten times more than anyone complimenting me on getting the technical details right.

But I wish we would set up a system where, in addition to assigning a shaliach tzibbur in advance, we'd assign someone to lead (i.e., trigger) the congragational responses. It's very unnerving to get to a point where you, as sha"tz, know that you're supposed to wait for the congregation to recite something without you, and be met with a few seconds of silence before someone realizes what's going on and starts. (This is a problem on Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur because so much of each service is sui generis, so everyone really needs to be paying attention.) At ne'ilah, the last service of the day, the sha"tz turned to me just before he started and said "can you try to get everyone singing when they should?" --- so I'm not the only one who feels this way, but neither of us thought of it before today.

As I've become more adept at navigating the unfamiliar words of the Yom Kippur prayers, I find they have less emotional resonance for me. It probably doesn't help that as I've become more observant, the gap between what is and what should be has narrowed. So something to work on for next year is to get back to a point where the prayers are able to force me to confront my shortcomings.

(no subject)

Thomas Quasthoff, in an interview in yesterday's New York Times Magazine:

"If as a singer you are not able to make a psychic striptease, you should do something else."

(no subject)

Thomas Quasthoff, in an interview in yesterday's New York Times Magazine:

"If as a singer you are not able to make a psychic striptease, you should do something else."