R"H report

[magid]

I tend to forget between times how time flows differently during a holiday. It stretches out calmly, but full, in a way Shabbat is not. The other place-time that this happens to me is at a con, though there it's much more frenetic, manic, not calming at all. Exciting, though. I like the slow time of chag, too. Somehow time seems more pliable, more filled with possibility, despite the halachic restrictions. There's time for flights of the mind, I suppose.

This year they set the room up differently, and I didn't like it. Necessary background: praying spaces are supposed to face east, towards Israel and Jerusalem. The room we use on the high holidays (not our usual space) is essentially a square, with the northeast corner cut off. Usually the ark is on the eastern wall, and we all face east. This year, they put the ark on the northeast diagonal wall. Each section (men and women) had an aisle down the middle. And the way the chairs were set up, some of the men faced east, then across the aisle the men faced northeast. On the other side of the mechitza, a section of women faced northeast, then across the aisle (where the more comfortable seats were), the women faced north. Ugh. I stood at the back of the women's section, which would've been the front any other year. It let me face where I wanted for the amidah, and it let me pace when I needed to. As a bonus, there was an upright piano that was the perfect height for resting my machzor on.

Services (other than the layout of the space) were good. I thought that everyone was pretty solid, though the one who led musaf the first day went more slowly than I'm used to. The ba'al tokea (shofar blower) was quite good.

Reminders for next year: drink a lot of water before services; I have a tendency towards dehydration when so much time is so ordered. Also, remember that comfortable shoes are extremely important if standing for all of repetition (plus Torah-reading). It doesn't matter what they look like if the feets are happy. Also, weigh lunch invitations carefully; it's harder to deal with a delayed lunch (aka breakfast) after long davening.

I looked at the program at services, and did a double-take: one of the kids I know is doing all the Torah reading on Y"K. Turns out it's his bar mitzvah. How can he be 13 already? I was just chasing him around kiddush and flinging him over my shoulder a little while ago! (OK, maybe not so little a while.)

I got to see glass pumpkins Friday. There was a tent set up in front of Kresge, sheltering tables crammed full of glass squash (most were pumpkins, but there were some summer squash and some other winter squashes). They were beautiful. Intense colors and color patterns, contrasting vine colors and textures, interesting shapes, calling out to be touched. Perhaps there will be a sale of useful glass objects (bowls, perhaps?) at a time when I could buy some.

So many people I haven't talked to in far too long. Must change that.

I made far too much food (surprise!). I need to figure out whether some of the leftovers should be frozen.

Comments

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

Comfortable shoes are absolutely a must. I started wearing sneakers on R"H several years ago and have never regretted it. OK, so they don't necessarily match my nice clothes, but I don't mind -- being uncomfortable makes it hard to concentrate.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I tried sandals and ankle boots this year, and I think neither of them were as good as sneakers would've been. The boots were better; I was able to concentrate more the second day, I think.

It's hard for me to concentrate on some of the piyyutim though, whatever my footwear. I think it has to do with how accessible the Hebrew is. Anything that's too fancy I have a much smaller chance of being able to appreciate in the original, and I have a hard time reading translations; my brain processes English and Hebrew differently.

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

The piyyutim can be difficult. I'm having trouble with slichos for the same reason -- I read them in English since there's very little chance of me getting much from the Hebrew, but even in translation they are complicated, with a lot of imagery to absorb in a small amount of time.

As far as processing Hebrew and English differently, I know what you mean. The eye movements for reading the two languages are so different -- for me, with English it's straight left-to-right, and since I read quickly I usually move my eyes once or twice per line. With Hebrew, though, I notice some up-and-down movement as well as right-to-left as I take in the vowels, plus more eye movement in general since I don't know the language as well and have to be more careful with individual words. Anyway, have you tried different formats for siddurim/machzorim? I'm lucky in that my brain works well with Artscroll's standard format (Hebrew on the right, English on the left), but I know this is not the case for everyone. Some people prefer the Metsudah format (Hebrew and English on the same page, line by line along a central axis), some prefer Artscroll's interlinear or transliterated formats (which give me headaches).

[magid.livejournal.com]

Slichot are just as tricky for me as piyyutim, definitely.

I haven't paid attention to eye movements enough to be able to tell whether there's a difference (other than left-right/ right-left) in eye movements. I was thinking more about how I process. I read English very quickly, and somehow it seems to summarize on the way to my brain. Which doesn't work at all well with a lot of poetry with parallel images, the way Psalms do, for instance. Whereas in Hebrew, particular word choice is much more important, evoking a cloud of related words and references. [I think English does this for me only on the level of phrases and sentences.]

I do better with the Artscroll sort of layout. In fact, I think their Hebrew layout is excellently designed. The English, however, is not so good, partly because they have a tendency towards translation that enhances, and partly because I just hate italics for more than emphasis (or quotes on LJ :-). I've never tried the Metsudah; just looking at it makes my head ache; each language is justified to the wrong end of the line!

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

>> I haven't paid attention to eye movements enough to be able to tell whether there's a difference (other than left-right/ right-left) in eye movements. I was thinking more about how I process.

My personal opinion is that processing and eye movements are related. When my eyes move less, I take in one big chunk of information all at once, and it "summarizes on the way to my brain", as you put it. When my eyes move more, it's like building meaning one little block at a time. Plus, as you pointed out, Hebrew poetry is very heavy on parallel imaging and much weight is given to word choice. So reading Hebrew ends up being a more complicated process all around for me.

(I found this to be even more of a problem with Artscroll's interlinear format. I don't want to sound like I'm dissing it entirely; I know people who love this format. But for me, I find my eyes going around in uncomfortable circles as a result of trying to read both left-to-right and right-to-left all at once -- my brain just doesn't handle it well.)

I also have some issues with Artscroll's English translations. I like Metsudah's translations somewhat better, but the format doesn't work so well for me since my eyes start trying to move in 2 directions at once (not in circles, but still ...). But no matter you slice it, English translations are going to be difficult anyway since the English language just doesn't work the same way Hebrew does. Also, the imagery is not the same, so a line of text that "comes together" in Hebrew ends up sounding weird in English, as if it had too many mystical and abstract terms for one sentence.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I hadn't thought about eye movements and processing being related, but it makes sense. I wonder if I'll be able to pay attention to my eye movements, or if it'll be like asking the centipede to explain how it walks.

What I find somewhat strange is that I read too fast in English to read poetry (unless I read aloud, which rarely happens), while in Hebrew, since I'm slower anyway, it's easier to approach poetry (given an adequate vocabulary). Plus somehow the families of words stick with me better; I can find the allusions more easily.

I'm with you: I can't deal with interlinear or the partial lines (Metsudah) either.

I know that all translations are interpretations, but I've seen some Artscroll ones I was really not happy with, which lead me to question the others. And yeah, the imagery doesn't work well in translation. I don't think it helps that even when I was little, doing readings in shul in English felt dorky. It's just not the right language for me to pray in comfortably, somehow.

[bitty.livejournal.com]

I woke up several times last night due to massive dehydration. We should tattoo ourselves with DRINK MORE WATER.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Heh. I had a bit of a food hangover Thursday morning, myself, but three glasses of water before services helped a lot.

I find that it's something I have to pay attention to when I'm not in the office (having a water bottle sitting there all the time helps so much).

Jewish holidays are harder, because I tend not to think about getting a drink of water during services (which can take all morning, and then some), then when you go to lunch at someone's house, there's the time to walk there, and time for setting up, and getting the kids settled, and ... And suddenly it's after 2 PM and you haven't had anything to drink since 8 AM.

[dancingdeer.livejournal.com]

Things I found: the guy who davened musaf on the first day may have been slower, but had a gorgeous voice. I really missed that the second day. Plus, his voice was deep enough that I was able to actually sing along. Yay! (insert "I hate tenors" rant here)
I plunked a couple granola bars into my jacket, and discovered that sometime around 11 or so, wandering out to the hall to eat one made a *HUGE* difference in my ability to last through the whole service without going cranky or headachy or too fidgety. Must remember that. Unfortunately, next services are Yom Kippur, when that wont' be an option. Darnit.
The glass pumpkin sale was moved to Sunday (rain date, vs the heavy rains on Saturday), so you might have been able to make it had you known. I almost did, but didn't make it out of the house in time. A friend of mine helped make them, though.
Something I didn't get around to asking you - were tickets required for the orthodox minyan this year? I thought you'd said in the past that they weren't, but I was accosted when I arrived on Thursday morning, and I have a feeling a bill is going to arrive in my mail.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I think I may be influenced by knowing the guy who did musaf second day (though I agree 1st day musaf was much more musical), even though I don't always agree with some of his tune choices. (Rant taken as given :-)

I tend not to eat during services, even outside (even water, usually). I might have to rethink this. (Yeah, snacks on Yom Kippur are.. less feasible.)

I thought it was likely moved to Sunday, but though I thought many of them beautiful, I didn't want to own one; they're in the category of "pretty things to dust" that I'm trying not to acquire. Bowls, on the other hand, I can justify to myself.

Tickets: they're getting more demanding about having tickets (not sure if the ortho minyan lost a debate with Hillel, or there was a decision change based on the eruv being up, or what). In the past they weren't (though encouraged). The most you're likely to get in the mail is an appeal, though, not a bill (they made it clear that while they had 'suggested' prices for tickets, they didn't want it to be a hardship for anyone, so whatever each person thought appropriate was appreciated).

[dancingdeer.livejournal.com]

I'm iffy about tune choices - I realize I'm biased towards the tunes I grew up with in my home shul, so I miss those. On the other hand, at least there are some tunes, rather than all mumbling.
I was disappointed at how few of the women were actually singing, even things like aleinu or adon olam. Most were just sitting there, or talking to their friends. sigh. That's one of the reasons I was sitting next to the mechitzah, so I could be closer to where the action was, or something. More connected with what was going on.

[cellio]

The glass pumpkins look nifty.

That room layout is weird. Do you know why they changed it? (Aside: why do we face east and not roughly east-south-east? Aside from matters of where the walls are, I mean.)

You stand for torah reading? (We stand when the torah is being carried, lifted, etc, but not during the actual reading.)

[magid.livejournal.com]

At the end of R"H, someone said something that made me think they'd changed the layout to fit more people in the room (though we definitely didn't need it; I suspect a lot of kids went home for the long weekend. Y"K may be a different matter, however.). I don't know if that's right or just someone else's supposition, though.

(Aside: I never looked this up, but I assume that it's more the general idea of facing east (from Europe, anyway), rather than a compass verification of Jerusalem. I suspect it's partly because the idea was ingrained early enough that technology wasn't thought of as an approach, and perhaps later no one bothered, since it's got more symbolic value in the general.)

I stand for Torah reading. Partly, it's because most people stand for at least some of the reading (the 10 commandments, the last pasuk of a book, etc), and it feels right to me to respect all parts of Torah equally. Some of it is respect: if we stand while it's out and moving, how much more so when it's being read and used. It's a minority custom, definitely.

Oh, I kept wondering during davening: does your shul do musaf on R"H? If not, where do you put all the shofar parts that are usually (er, usually to me) in musaf? (the p'sukim about kingship, remembrance, and shofar) (The kingship ones are particularly vivid to me, since it includes Aleinu, with the congregation kneeling.)

[cellio]

Some of it is respect: if we stand while it's out and moving, how much more so when it's being read and used.

I can see that. We take the view that "when the torah is up so are you", and extend it to "so when the torah is at rest you're allowed to be too", though I don't think I've ever heard someone articulate that part. The torah is like a king, so I guess we take it for granted that the king has given us permission to sit. :-)

I suspect there's a practical motivation too; we definitely have people in the congregation for whom standing would be a hardship, and we don't want to make them feel awkward on a weekly basis. During the high holy days they may sit while others are standing, but at least that's not weekly.

Oh, I kept wondering during davening: does your shul do musaf on R"H? If not, where do you put all the shofar parts that are usually (er, usually to me) in musaf?

We don't do musaf. We have the shofar service (with the parts you described) after the torah service and before the final aleinu/kaddish.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Standing: I'm one of few people who do stand for Torah reading in my congregation. It's definitely a hard thing, and I suspect I'm getting closer to a time when I'll have to rethink how much standing I do. In the conservative shul I grew up in, I would've felt extremely uncomfortable doing anything different than anyone else. In most of the orthodox shuls I've been to as an adult, I've gotten the feeling that differences (like this, anyway :-) are fine. Though some of this may be a function of who I was at the time, too.

Thanks. I knew you didn't do musaf for regular Shabatot; I just wasn't sure how all the quotes fit in if you didn't for R"H. (I don't know why I kept wondering this, either.)

[cellio]

(I don't know why I kept wondering this, either.)

Hey, not a problem. I started it. :-) Besides, I enjoy comparing notes about liturgical traditions and stuff -- helps me get a better feel for what else is out there.