January 2017

HAZZAN'S NOTES

Shortening Shabbat Services Most members of our synagogue know that we approach prayers and rituals in a traditional manner. To be more specific, many of us believe that our traditional prayers should usually be chanted in an accessible, egalitarian manner. Thus, the title of this article may come as a surprise to some members of our congregation, and as welcome news to other members. As your Spiritual Leader, it is my responsibility to walk the fine lines between the religious needs of those who would like more tradition, and those who would like less. During recent months of 2016, it was brought to my attention that there apparently are many members of Agudath Achim who would like somewhat shorter services on Shabbat morning. Here are the parameters for accomplishing this: 1) Until we have a Minyan, some prayers such as the Kaddish are not chanted during the service. 2) Some sections of the service can be shortened, while other sections cannot: the Preliminary Service can be shortened, the Sh'ma Section cannot, each Amidah can be shortened, and the Shabbat Torah Service has already been made as short as is possible. Here is a list of those occasions when extra sections must be added on Shabbat, and thus the service cannot be shortened: 1) When Shabbat coincides with a Festival, or twice each year when Shabbat is also Rosh Chodesh (the New Month). 2) When Shabbat falls during the Intermediate Days of Sukkot or Pesach, and during the week of Hanukkah. 3) When a Bar\Bat Mitzvah or other major life-cycle \ social event falls on Shabbat, such as a speaker. After I did research on what sections can be shortened and how to do so, a sub-committee met to review the options. A recommendation was made to the full Ritual Committee that our Shabbat service begin at 10:00 a.m. rather than at 9:45, and that our usual half-hour Preliminary Service be shortened to 15 minutes. This was based on a prayer-list found in the Rabbinic literature that specifies which are not included when a person arrives late. When the Ritual Committee met, discussion also centered about five "decision-points" as our Shabbat morning service progresses. At each of these points, when there is a Minyan present we make one choice, and if there is no Minyan, we continue in a different manner. We are already including certain liberalities, such as chanting the Mi Shebeirach for those who are sick regardless if there is a Minyan, and saying a Psalm in honor of those on our Yahrtzeit list when we cannot recite the Mourners' Kaddish. Here is the "bottom line" for Agudath Achim: on a "normal" Shabbat, our prayer-service cannot be shortened beyond two hours, or we are no longer doing a Conservative prayer service. When we occasionally do not have a Minyan, some important prayer-sections are being curtailed or left out, and that is not healthy for our future. I am keeping my weekly D'var Torah to five minutes with a Minyan, ten minutes without, to help shorten the service. By making the change to 10:00 for our start-time, we hope that more of our members will now attend services on a regular basis. Except for the special occasions mentioned above, this shorter service will now end at noon most weeks, as requested by many members. We have made the service shorter to accommodate those who requested this – it is now up to you to participate as often as possible, preferably weekly if you can do so. Todah Rabbah – Thank You in advance! Hazzan Neil Schwartz