I wonder if this is a good idea
It's summer, the time when people at my synagogue traditionally
think about plans for adult education for the coming year. I've
realized that there is something I could teach, that I am
atypically qualified to teach -- but I have no idea if it would
reach the right people (or be seen as interesting).
Over the course of a year we see a fair number of people on the bimah, leading parts of the service, who haven't done this a lot and have never been taught how. The senior rabbi (who is excellent at this) is the right person to teach such a class, but he's busy. But at the risk of sounding immodest, I am probably one of the best lay people in the congregation in this area. At the knowing and the doing, I mean; I don't have much experience with teaching. That would be a "growth opportunity".
There is so much more to leading worship than just reading the words in the book. (It starts with awareness of that fact, by the way -- da lifnei mi atah omeid, know before whom you stand, is a guiding principle IMO.) I learned what I know mostly by observation (I'm good at noticing details in this context; people have commented on this), a fair bit by doing, and a fair bit from the Sh'liach K'hilah program. So I'm trying to figure out if I should offer.
The main reason I hesitate is that such a class could fail to attract the people who will be in a position to apply it while giving people who won't be in such a position false hope (double whammy). I've lived that false hope; it sucks. Possibly the right way to structure such a thing is not as a broad class but as something that members of sisterhood, brotherhood, committees, etc -- the groups that get services during the year -- are expected to go through. Pitch it to them rather than more broadly. (But would they buy in if the rabbi isn't the teacher?) Now that I think about it, we've had targetted training sessions on how to lead a shiva minyan (targetted to the committees that do that), so maybe that's the right model. (I'm focusing on adults here because I think the b'nei mitzvah have their heads, and schedules, full already. They and their families could surely benefit, but I don't think it would happen.)
My rabbi is away for the next several weeks (and then I'll be away for a bit just as he's coming back), so I'll either wait or mention the idea casually to our new rabbi who will be focusing on education.
Over the course of a year we see a fair number of people on the bimah, leading parts of the service, who haven't done this a lot and have never been taught how. The senior rabbi (who is excellent at this) is the right person to teach such a class, but he's busy. But at the risk of sounding immodest, I am probably one of the best lay people in the congregation in this area. At the knowing and the doing, I mean; I don't have much experience with teaching. That would be a "growth opportunity".
There is so much more to leading worship than just reading the words in the book. (It starts with awareness of that fact, by the way -- da lifnei mi atah omeid, know before whom you stand, is a guiding principle IMO.) I learned what I know mostly by observation (I'm good at noticing details in this context; people have commented on this), a fair bit by doing, and a fair bit from the Sh'liach K'hilah program. So I'm trying to figure out if I should offer.
The main reason I hesitate is that such a class could fail to attract the people who will be in a position to apply it while giving people who won't be in such a position false hope (double whammy). I've lived that false hope; it sucks. Possibly the right way to structure such a thing is not as a broad class but as something that members of sisterhood, brotherhood, committees, etc -- the groups that get services during the year -- are expected to go through. Pitch it to them rather than more broadly. (But would they buy in if the rabbi isn't the teacher?) Now that I think about it, we've had targetted training sessions on how to lead a shiva minyan (targetted to the committees that do that), so maybe that's the right model. (I'm focusing on adults here because I think the b'nei mitzvah have their heads, and schedules, full already. They and their families could surely benefit, but I don't think it would happen.)
My rabbi is away for the next several weeks (and then I'll be away for a bit just as he's coming back), so I'll either wait or mention the idea casually to our new rabbi who will be focusing on education.