Here at Kutz, staff week is in full swing. As usual, we all do jobs that aren’t actually our jobs. I’m the AV guy, but last night I was given the chance to be involved with services.
So I had a cool idea. I was thinking about the Barchu. It’s a call to worship, right? A call! Not a mumbled nigun thing or a mumbled chanted response thing.
I was also thinking about when you’re in Israel (or any mid east country, for that matter), you can hear the Muslim call to worship five times a day. It’s unavoidable. You damn well know when it’s time to pray in a Muslim country. So why isn’t the Barchu a wakeup call of equal force?
So I talked about that briefly before we began to daven. And then I lead the Barchu with a bullhorn.
But, you left out the most important parts – what was the reaction of those present, and what did YOU think of it? Was it pure kitsch, or did it “work” on some level?
I was a little afraid in the moments immediately following that it was pure kitsch, Jason.
However, after talking to the pray-ers who were there, several loved it or said it gave them something to chew on. So that’s something.
I like. We should think about doing this again in the summer. See you tomorrow.
Oh, we will do it again. Dan and Danny seem pretty interested in my help doing interesting things with services, so we’ll be doing all kinds of hair-brained things.
And you won’t see me today. The A-Team has Shabat off.
We’ve done this at URJ Camp Coleman, or at least something similar. One staff member is in the main office and over the all-camp announcement system (the “Haksheivu Machine” we call it) they lead the first line in the call-and-response prayer. It’s pretty cool. (We have to use walkie-talkies to communicate the right moment across the lake from the chapel to the office.)
Goodness! That’s prefect!
Want to explicate the difference between a bullhorn and a ram’s horn?
My first thought was actually to use a shofar before the Barchu, but the megaphone (to use a different term) offered me an ability that the shofar didn’t. Also, I couldn’t find a shofar.
David,
I could barely get through leading the Barchu on Kabalat Shabbat this past week without honking like a horn…but I managed! Ever see Bob Gurland perform with Jon Hendricks (the jazz great)? He does a mean horn sound with his hands cupped around his mouth and improvs brilliantly while so doing! That’s what I was thinking about o Erev Shabbat!
Bravo! think its a fab idea – keep it up!
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