Rabbis

 Friday nights we like to watch Sabbath services that are being televised from various synagogues. There are at least in New York that show their services and we like them. These are all mostly reform temples and maybe that is why their services really surprise me.

I am not a temple goer and I am not an authority on Jewish Sabbath services, but what I see is totally surprises me. I went to services in Hungary a few times in my school years when it was still allowed, mainly because it was mandatory to attend. Here in this country my attendance was limited to weddings. However, in recent years my wife attended a few Friday night services until the pandemic made them stop public attendance.

So, as you see I am not an authority at all. But still that should not stop me from being surprised. So why am I surprised? Because of the musicality of these services.

I know that there are cantors who sing, but I never knew rabbis needed to also sing. In one service we like to watch the rabbis sing and play the guitar, and also there is a small orchestra in the background. There are orchestras in every temple we like to see and we find that all rabbis sing almost as much as the cantor. This is very strange to me. I talked to a rabbi once and expressed my amazement and he told me, yes this is the new norm. Not for the conservative though. 

I can't imagine my old religious teacher, good old Dr. Izsak Smelcer to sing and play the guitar at the Sabbath service. But this is a funny world. What used to be unbelievable now is the norm.