How I Spent My Judgement Days: Part III

After all the drama of attempting to go to Reconstructionist services the first night of Rosh HaShanah I decided the best way to actually get in for morning prayers was to simply show up on time. I was there at 9:15 for a 9:30 service. (Earliest I've been to prayers in years!) I figured, correctly, that I could show up late for davening at the shul where I had seats and no one would even notice. At the Reconstructionist service no one asked me for my ticket (though later I saw on the website that tickets were required).

On my way into the sanctuary I grabbed a prayer book. Partly, so I could follow along but mostly out of curiosity to see what's in the prayers of a sect that doesn't believe in a traditional god. I found a seat in the back and took the place in. The cathedral was huge on the inside. Maybe I've just been to one too many storefront shuls but I was simply not used to this much space in a place of worship. It has a high steeple ceiling and stained glass windows. The curtains were drawn on the wall behind the dais covering a religious (Jesus?) painting. (See a picture of the cathedral to the right.) At the foot of the stairs they had set up a stage complete with a bemiah and a Torah ark.

By the time 9:30 rolled around there were 50 people there. The place was set up to hold 500 to 750 people. I found myself wondering why they didn't move Rosh HaShanah to Shabbos. Prayers started off very lively. The Rabbi sang some duets with the chazzan. Sometimes the Rabbi would lead the singing, sometimes she would let the chazzan run with it. Good voices on both of them. The crowd wasn't participating very much however. I tried to get people clapping at one point but there weren't enough people interested. The davening seemed pretty standard. Ma Tovu and other familiar morning prayers. I flipped through the prayer book and was surprised to see god's name all over the place. There were a few changes that de-emphasized god but he was still there. Truth be told, the whole affair seemed almost traditional. Sure, there was a woman Rabbi (gasp!) and we were in a cathedral (non-ironic gasp) but the content wasn't anything new. In fact the whole thing seemed a little too religious for my taste. At 9:45 I stepped out and went to my shul.

I really wanted to hear a sermon from the Reconstructionist Rabbi and see what she would preach. At the start of Musaf I snuck out of my shul and went back to the Reconstructionist davening. I was pretty shocked when I got there. The place was packed. I had to stand in the back. After the slow start I was not expecting the place to be so full. I was unpleasantly surprised when I realized they were behind us and still working on the Torah reading.

After hagbah an older woman read the haftorah. Acknowledging that the haftorah was about Channa and her infertility she dedicated it to her sister who had recently died and had struggled with infertility during her life. It was very touching. Following the haftorah was the shofar blowing. Interestingly, they had a kid blow shofar. He was better than the guy at my shul. He even pushed out 14 seconds on tekiah gedolah. (Oh, like you don't time it?)

All in all the whole experience was disappointing. I didn't find the service religiously inspiring and was surprised at how much it resembled the prayers I was ditching.

Oh well.