When the youth choir followed Cantor Moshe Solomon from the synagogue in Alhambra, CA to the synagogue in Arcadia, CA, our High Holy Days services shifted from the San Gabriel Playhouse to the combined sanctuary and multipurpose room of the Arcadia synagogue. The bimah featured a choir loft just to the cantor’s right that was conveniently designed so that we were seen when we stood up and out of sight when we sat down. We could easily come and go as we pleased as long as we stooped below the sightlines. At this time, we were not of B’nai Mitzvah age, and were not fasting for Yom Kippur. Hannah Fox, the mother of one of my combined families, always kept our tallit bags filled with snacks, some healthy and some not so healthy. Out of sight of the hungry and thirsty congregants we quietly sated our appetites.
One Yom Kippur Cantor Moshe was chanting Hineni (Here I Am) with all of his heart and soul. Suddenly I noticed Hannah, who had an unusual sense of humor, sneak to the edge of the choir loft. Just as Moshe extended his arms pleading to God, Hannah, not seen by the congregation, placed an apple in his hand. As Moshe desperately thrust the apple toward Hannah, Hannah did nothing to help him. Eventually Moshe managed to toss the apple into the choir loft. We don’t know how much the congregation saw, but we do know that nobody mentioned anything. We somehow found a fasting cantor leading a fasting congregation in prayer with an apple in his hand rather amusing. In retrospect I feel somewhat guilty about how much I enjoyed the moment and I want to assure Cantor Shayndel that I will not do anything like that to her.
If you have a High Holy Day memory or reflection you would like to share, please email Rabbi Dean
From the President – August 27, 2020
August 27, 2020 by tbhrich •
When the youth choir followed Cantor Moshe Solomon from the synagogue in Alhambra, CA to the synagogue in Arcadia, CA, our High Holy Days services shifted from the San Gabriel Playhouse to the combined sanctuary and multipurpose room of the Arcadia synagogue. The bimah featured a choir loft just to the cantor’s right that was conveniently designed so that we were seen when we stood up and out of sight when we sat down. We could easily come and go as we pleased as long as we stooped below the sightlines. At this time, we were not of B’nai Mitzvah age, and were not fasting for Yom Kippur. Hannah Fox, the mother of one of my combined families, always kept our tallit bags filled with snacks, some healthy and some not so healthy. Out of sight of the hungry and thirsty congregants we quietly sated our appetites.
One Yom Kippur Cantor Moshe was chanting Hineni (Here I Am) with all of his heart and soul. Suddenly I noticed Hannah, who had an unusual sense of humor, sneak to the edge of the choir loft. Just as Moshe extended his arms pleading to God, Hannah, not seen by the congregation, placed an apple in his hand. As Moshe desperately thrust the apple toward Hannah, Hannah did nothing to help him. Eventually Moshe managed to toss the apple into the choir loft. We don’t know how much the congregation saw, but we do know that nobody mentioned anything. We somehow found a fasting cantor leading a fasting congregation in prayer with an apple in his hand rather amusing. In retrospect I feel somewhat guilty about how much I enjoyed the moment and I want to assure Cantor Shayndel that I will not do anything like that to her.
If you have a High Holy Day memory or reflection you would like to share, please email Rabbi Dean
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