Trying Something New
So my husband and the kids were away this shabbos and I decided to check out the "egalitarian" shul in our neighborhood.
It was interesting. I was a little overwhelmed initially. It was weird to see women leading the tefillah and being called up to the Torah and leining and taking an active role. There were no microphones, no choir or guitar playing, it was a regular service, they used the regular siddurim and everything. Really, the only difference was that all the women participated fully. I spent a lot of time puzzled at my own discomfort and trying to analyze my own reactions. Maybe it was just that female voices singing the davening sound very different from the usual male ones.
On the other hand, everyone seemed very serious about the whole davening thing. There wasn't a lot of talking or chatting, everyone was following along and concentrating and participating. People sat with their families. No one was flirting or acting inappropriately with members of the opposite gender. No fornicating in the aisles, in other words. I really have no idea why orthodox shuls are so gung ho on the whole mechitzah thing. These people were of all different ages, teens and children and middle aged couples and the elderly, and none of them were checking each other out or hooking up or whatever it is that frum people think happens when the mechitzah goes down.
Everyone was also very friendly and welcoming. I was asked if they could call me for Galilah, but I said no, for now. First, it was all too much to absorb at once and second, I stupidly had no idea what this involved. I vaguely remembered that at the end of leining, one dude sits down while holding the sefer torah and the other guy wraps something around it and then they put it back in the aron, but I had no idea what the details were. It is kind of pathetic that my ten year old son does this all the time at shul and I am so clueless. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I can't see anything behind our chabad shul's mechitzah, nothing at all.
At the end of the service, when the rabbi was giving his dvar torah, he asked anyone if they wanted to comment on the parshah and people did and a whole discussion ensued, all about midrash and halacha and so on. It was interesting to see people, women especially, speaking up about the parshah in front of a mixed group.
I can't really say that I was inspired or that God spoke to me and turned me into a conservative Rabbi or anything like that. But I was much more interested and I paid attention to the leining and the davening than I usually do. But maybe that's just because of the novelty and once that wears off, it will just be like regular boring old shul. Maybe I'll get to go again and find out.
It was interesting. I was a little overwhelmed initially. It was weird to see women leading the tefillah and being called up to the Torah and leining and taking an active role. There were no microphones, no choir or guitar playing, it was a regular service, they used the regular siddurim and everything. Really, the only difference was that all the women participated fully. I spent a lot of time puzzled at my own discomfort and trying to analyze my own reactions. Maybe it was just that female voices singing the davening sound very different from the usual male ones.
On the other hand, everyone seemed very serious about the whole davening thing. There wasn't a lot of talking or chatting, everyone was following along and concentrating and participating. People sat with their families. No one was flirting or acting inappropriately with members of the opposite gender. No fornicating in the aisles, in other words. I really have no idea why orthodox shuls are so gung ho on the whole mechitzah thing. These people were of all different ages, teens and children and middle aged couples and the elderly, and none of them were checking each other out or hooking up or whatever it is that frum people think happens when the mechitzah goes down.
Everyone was also very friendly and welcoming. I was asked if they could call me for Galilah, but I said no, for now. First, it was all too much to absorb at once and second, I stupidly had no idea what this involved. I vaguely remembered that at the end of leining, one dude sits down while holding the sefer torah and the other guy wraps something around it and then they put it back in the aron, but I had no idea what the details were. It is kind of pathetic that my ten year old son does this all the time at shul and I am so clueless. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I can't see anything behind our chabad shul's mechitzah, nothing at all.
At the end of the service, when the rabbi was giving his dvar torah, he asked anyone if they wanted to comment on the parshah and people did and a whole discussion ensued, all about midrash and halacha and so on. It was interesting to see people, women especially, speaking up about the parshah in front of a mixed group.
I can't really say that I was inspired or that God spoke to me and turned me into a conservative Rabbi or anything like that. But I was much more interested and I paid attention to the leining and the davening than I usually do. But maybe that's just because of the novelty and once that wears off, it will just be like regular boring old shul. Maybe I'll get to go again and find out.