Summer vacation is drawing to a close and it is time to get back to writing this article for our monthly newsletter. My three readers (wife and two sisters) have complained about my dalliance. After a Teacher Training session this past week at the school where I teach 5th Grade Hebrew and two bicycle vacations these past two months, I am starting to look forward to getting back into the “harness” for the fall season.
The topic that I wish to touch upon today is what is commonly referred to as the “Traditional Service” and why it is important to retain some of prayers, trope (tunes) for the several standards of Hebrew verses/chants, and the order of service.
There is a movement among many branches of our congregations (and churches too) to introduce new wording, new prayers, new music, more visuals, etc. In many ways, this is a good thing. It appeals to the younger generation raised with TV and used to being passively entertained. On occasion, I too enjoy sitting back and witnessing a religious presentation. But, I will present a few reasons why our “Traditional Service” should not be totally discarded.
1) There was a segment of a radio program called “Speaking of Faith” in which Ernie LaPointe was interviewed. Mr. Lapointe is the great-great grandson of Chief Sitting Bull of the Lakota Sioux Tribe of the Dakotas. Even though most of the world thinks of Sitting Bull as one of the great military leaders of his time, to his family and the rest of tribe he was considered more of a religious leader. Sitting Bulls religious teaching focused on singing, dancing, sounds/chants, and drumming as a way to pass down the traditions and history of the tribe to the individual “soul” which he referred to as “body memory”.
2) Many years ago I watched Joseph Campbell on PBS as he spoke about Mysticism, Myth, and Religion. In his opinion, one of the mistakes of the Roman Catholic Church was their delegation of Latin to the dust bin of history. He felt that the use of Latin and chants for some parts of the Mass (even though almost none of the congregants and very few of the priests understood it) instilled a necessary sense of mystery to the religious experience.
3) Last Shabbos, I paid a visit to a local nursing home where one of our elderly congregants lives. She is in a semi-comatose state and when I put on my tallis and lit her (electric) candles with the blessing I heard her faintly join in and give an “amen”. Then I opened our service with the song Shalom Aleichem and the call/response Bar’chu and she ever so faintly and in the proper trope/chant was worshiping along with me. She soon dozed off and I finished our little service with misty eyes and a lump in my throat.
Some Tradition is good and necessary!
A little bit of Kabbalah from the Rebbe, obm before closing: In each journey of your life you must be where you are. You may only be passing through on your way to somewhere else seemingly more important — nevertheless, there is purpose in where you are right now
ב׳שלום,
R. Schoch, PRF
*Disclaimer – Anything written in this column is only my own impression of events, the way that I interpret them, and not meant to be factual and true. If confronted by a challenge, I will immediately claim senility and deny writing whatever is being challenged.