Shabbat, Shoftim 5764

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Tried a new shul today — Reform variety, smallish. Shorter service. Guitar accompaniment. Familiar tune to “Sh’ma Israel.”

I quailed a bit when I first saw the girl with the guitar on the bimah. It’s those old memories of the catholic church in the late sixties and early seventies pathetically trying to be “relevant” by having guitar masses that triggered this reaction. My parents were stone-facedly averse to such things, and merely endured such masses by pretending that the offending actions (guitar music, the shaking of hands, various attempts to involve members of the congregation in the service) were simply not happening. If the congregation was called to come gather closer to the altar, they stood in place, alone amidst a sea of empty pews.

So, I patiently told myself that since everybody knows that, according to the Geneva Conventions, one is allowed to escape any way possible from any spiritual service wherein “Kumbayah” is sung, I had an easy out, and figured to give ’em a chance. Not bad, but still not the spark there.

Then off to my now-usual Shabbat lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, where I discovered that the baked apples in pastry crust are way too huge for human consumption. Big and round and proud in their white dishes — hell, I’ve seen smaller woodchucks!

Got lots of reading done. Now, to catch up on blogging…

2 thoughts on “Shabbat, Shoftim 5764”

  1. I remember “guitar masses” back in high school.

    They were held on weekends and attendance was not compulsory. I still remember the really good vibe that went with those masses. Maybe it was the young cool priest (“Father Bob”), maybe it was because most in attendance were my age, but there was a real sense of community. In a way, the religion was incidental to the communal bonding experience as I remember it. I am glad your shul provides this kind of environment.

  2. The best sense of community at a mass, I found, was at some lunchtime masses in college where there was no music. They weren’t even held in a chapel – just a room in the divinity school. Everybody got to help out reading and serving. It was a very peaceful half hour.

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