Rabbi Steindel

For those who have experienced a traditional High Holy Day service, there are few moments that leave a more lasting impact than what is called the cantor’s Hineni. Hineni is the first word of a unique and personal prayer recited by the congregation’s designated “voice,” and the majesty of the cantor’s voice highlights the hope that the prayers will be heard on high and that the God of our ancestors will receive our prayers and respond to our petitions.            

In an old machzor, published in Vilna in 1874, I found the following parallel to Hineni. While I have never heard these words chanted, I though you might appreciate this translation as a means by which we can all prepare for the special season ahead.           

O God most high I, ask that you agree to receive my plea. Strengthen my heart, O living God, righteous Judge, compassionate and loving God and hear this day the words that I pray for myself, for my family and for the entire congregation who join me in prayer. O please bundle our prayers with those of all the righteous and upright among your people Israel that they may ascend to your holy throne and that I not be embarrassed and they not be embarrassed by me. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable before you O God, my rock and my redeemer. May it be Your will, O God of awe, that you grant me a sweet and pleasant voice today that I may not be interrupted and my throat not fail me but rather that I be privileged to have a voice like the shofar of which the Bible records “the sound of the shofar grew stronger and stronger.” Amen.

 

Rabbi Werbow

I hope everyone is having a restful summer. Here at Beth Shalom we are deep into plans for the High Holidays and all that we need to do to get our programming up and running in the fall. It is also the time when we join our Shabbat davening community together each week in the Summer Ballroom Setting. For these Shabbatot we rely on the talents of our members to lead the davening. Each week we are led by a minimum of three people.

One person leads Pesukey d’Zimrah, the opening section of the service consisting of the daily morning blessings, Psalms and other verses from the TaNaCh. A second person leads us in the Shacharit service. Shacharit is the morning service which has as its major components the Barchu, Shma and Amidah. Our group is completed by a leader for Mussaf. The Mussaf service is an additional service that parallels an additional offering that was made on Shabbat and Festivals. Sometimes we have a fourth person to lead the Torah Service but if not then we split the Torah service between the leader of Shacharit and Mussaf.

The person who leads the davening is called the Shaliach Tzibbur or Shlichat Tzibbur if it is a woman. This translates as “messenger of the community.” This person is a messenger carrying the prayers to God. This person is not a stand in for us. We do not say, “The Shaliach Tzibbur is davening so I don’t have to.” We all say the same prayers and are kept on pace and all together by the Shaliach Tzibbur. We want to thank those who have been leading our services this summer, as well as other times during the year, and look forward to them leading more in the future.

This is all background for my main point. The summer is a good time to work on skills for synagogue participation. Everyone has room to grow. I remember speaking to a farmer and asking him what he did during the winter when he couldn’t work the farm. He said that each year he targeted one skill he wanted to learn. We can all do that in our religious life. What is the one skill you want to learn?

Do you need to brush up on your Hebrew? Take a siddur out onto your porch a couple of evenings a week and read some pages. Do you want to be more comfortable participating in the service? Go to sidduraudio.com to listen to the service. Do you want to work your way towards leading a service? You can download the material on sidduraudio.com as mp3 files to listen to.

Whatever your goal may be, and it could be something removed from the service itself, these long days of summer are a good time to dedicate ourselves to learning. If you are interested in meeting to develop a personalized plan please call, 412-421-2288 or email rwerbow@bethshalompgh.org.
May your learning take you l’eyla u’l’eyla, higher and higher.