In my aimless studies I came across this new word. I was reading "The Jews in Early New Orleans," by Bertram Korn. In it he discussed the father of one of the first Jewish settlers in then French New Orleans, David Monsanto. Korn's sources are the Municipal Archives of the Hague. He describes here Monsanto's state after a severe and ultimately irreversible personal financial collapse: "He who had gratefully accepted and paid for the high honor of serving in 1736 as the "Bridegroom of Genesis" on Simchas Torah..., now served as minhanista - that is, one of the unemployed, idle and retired men who, in exchange for a small allowance, were required to attend services in the synagogue every weekday, in order to assure the presence of the mandatory quorum (minyan)..." p. 12. with note on p. 267.
Minhanista is certainly a better word than my current fall-back, i.e. Ringer. With Sam now firmly ensconced at the Jewish home we could use a new one and there is at least one candidate who has presented himself.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
The week that was and the minyan that might be.
Here's to the health of our minyan, though a Refu'ah Shelaymah is more in order. The Thanksgiving week was a particularly rough week for the minyan. This Sunday evening was a bright spot. Four families came and there was one person who called some friends to support her on the occasion of a yohrtstayt. There were nearly twenty-five people including five pre-bar-mitzvah age children. Our tefilah for Monday morning was also successful. We were able to read from this week's parshah for the first time.
After the service the success of the day was a reminder to some of the failures of the past week. It is not helpful at all to harp on about the issue, but it is a hard instinct to repress. When the water level in the pond recedes the fish start crowding each other.
I have heard many complaints and have thought about their usefulness. It is not helpful to criticize latecomers. They came late, but they came. It isn't helpful to complain to regulars who missed one Minyan. Always be thankful for the effort made. Among our many challenges is the recent serious traffic problems coming south on the Golden Gate Bridge. Our Marin daveners are all the more to be praised when they are able to be with us late or on time. Many of those who attend do so because of relationships that they have had over time with the synagogue, the minyan and the minyan leaders. The way to create those relationships is by cultivating them with members of the congregation who find the minyan and by helping members find the minyan.
Our board members and clergy need to step up. They need to make Minyan a priority for themselves and they need to express to the congregation as a whole (as a board and as individuals) that Minyan is a central activity of the synagogue. Socially it is the central site of the congregation as a Kehilah Kedoshah. Religiously and spiritually it is the central site of the Congregation as a Kehilah Kedoshah. If we can't keep this together CBS really isn't anything more that a religiously biased [not a typo] social club. When we fail to reach a minyan those who have gathered can daven together, but their effort to join together lacks any consecration. When we fail to make a minyan those who have come feel loneliness, abandonment and a sense of failure. To cause these feeling in others and on a regular basis is an aveyrah.
Tefilah, Tsedakah u-Gemilut Hasadim. This is the order that we are taught in Pirke Avot. Tefilah engenders Tsedakah and Gemilut Hasadim. That is: it gives us the spiritual kavanah that makes our acts of Tsedakah and Gemilut Hasadim comprehensible parts of a life with meaning. And it is simply education. As we pray we ourselves learn and as a group we are teachers for ourselves and the others who we pray with. The most frustrating CBS minyan experience of all is dealing with religious school parents arriving to pick up their children who refuse to make up a minyan. How thoroughly they undermine the education of their children who learn volumes from their actions. Tsedakah and Gemilut Hasadim are not "projects," that one completes on a schedule like a book report. They are, along with Tefilah, a part of the essence of Judaism, the Mitsvot.
This is another part of the minyan problem that we are having: the board and the clergy are not advocates for the observance of the mitsvot. CBS is a congregation associated with the Conservative movement. In the reform movement Halakhah and the mitsvot are options, but for us in the Conservative movement they are still, as they have always been, the law. There is a certain fear that to speak up about this will scare people away from out congregation. I think that this is foolishness. When I began in retail my natural-born anti-capitalism led me to believe that it was an oppression of the customer to approach them and try to sell them something. In time experience taught me the obvious, people go into stores to buy things and they are happy to have some help finding what they need or in figuring out what their needs are. It is the same with our Congregation. People don't come to us to be left alone. They come for something and if we don't display the goods and explain their virtues they will leave empty handed.
Our minyan, when it succeeds, is an amazing thing. It is traditional in its message and its methods, but it is inclusive of all and all of everyone. (This is where the whole Conservative movement should be going.) To see children at a minyan is a rare thing at almost all minyanim, but not at CBS. There are so many reasons why actually making Minyan is vital. As Mavis Staples sings, "Tryin' to make 100/ 99 and a half, it just won't do/ It's a rough and uphill journey/ Lord, I'm tryin to make 100/ 99 and 1/2, it won't do, no, no"
I'll perseverate on this theme again.
After the service the success of the day was a reminder to some of the failures of the past week. It is not helpful at all to harp on about the issue, but it is a hard instinct to repress. When the water level in the pond recedes the fish start crowding each other.
I have heard many complaints and have thought about their usefulness. It is not helpful to criticize latecomers. They came late, but they came. It isn't helpful to complain to regulars who missed one Minyan. Always be thankful for the effort made. Among our many challenges is the recent serious traffic problems coming south on the Golden Gate Bridge. Our Marin daveners are all the more to be praised when they are able to be with us late or on time. Many of those who attend do so because of relationships that they have had over time with the synagogue, the minyan and the minyan leaders. The way to create those relationships is by cultivating them with members of the congregation who find the minyan and by helping members find the minyan.
Our board members and clergy need to step up. They need to make Minyan a priority for themselves and they need to express to the congregation as a whole (as a board and as individuals) that Minyan is a central activity of the synagogue. Socially it is the central site of the congregation as a Kehilah Kedoshah. Religiously and spiritually it is the central site of the Congregation as a Kehilah Kedoshah. If we can't keep this together CBS really isn't anything more that a religiously biased [not a typo] social club. When we fail to reach a minyan those who have gathered can daven together, but their effort to join together lacks any consecration. When we fail to make a minyan those who have come feel loneliness, abandonment and a sense of failure. To cause these feeling in others and on a regular basis is an aveyrah.
Tefilah, Tsedakah u-Gemilut Hasadim. This is the order that we are taught in Pirke Avot. Tefilah engenders Tsedakah and Gemilut Hasadim. That is: it gives us the spiritual kavanah that makes our acts of Tsedakah and Gemilut Hasadim comprehensible parts of a life with meaning. And it is simply education. As we pray we ourselves learn and as a group we are teachers for ourselves and the others who we pray with. The most frustrating CBS minyan experience of all is dealing with religious school parents arriving to pick up their children who refuse to make up a minyan. How thoroughly they undermine the education of their children who learn volumes from their actions. Tsedakah and Gemilut Hasadim are not "projects," that one completes on a schedule like a book report. They are, along with Tefilah, a part of the essence of Judaism, the Mitsvot.
This is another part of the minyan problem that we are having: the board and the clergy are not advocates for the observance of the mitsvot. CBS is a congregation associated with the Conservative movement. In the reform movement Halakhah and the mitsvot are options, but for us in the Conservative movement they are still, as they have always been, the law. There is a certain fear that to speak up about this will scare people away from out congregation. I think that this is foolishness. When I began in retail my natural-born anti-capitalism led me to believe that it was an oppression of the customer to approach them and try to sell them something. In time experience taught me the obvious, people go into stores to buy things and they are happy to have some help finding what they need or in figuring out what their needs are. It is the same with our Congregation. People don't come to us to be left alone. They come for something and if we don't display the goods and explain their virtues they will leave empty handed.
Our minyan, when it succeeds, is an amazing thing. It is traditional in its message and its methods, but it is inclusive of all and all of everyone. (This is where the whole Conservative movement should be going.) To see children at a minyan is a rare thing at almost all minyanim, but not at CBS. There are so many reasons why actually making Minyan is vital. As Mavis Staples sings, "Tryin' to make 100/ 99 and a half, it just won't do/ It's a rough and uphill journey/ Lord, I'm tryin to make 100/ 99 and 1/2, it won't do, no, no"
I'll perseverate on this theme again.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Again on making calls
This past Sunday what with the ball game and all the showing was below a minyan by a bit. There was no one there saying kaddish so I didn't make any calls. Not long after we started IL who is still in sloshim showed up. It was too late to start making calls and so we did not have a minyan for him. Be-kol yom tamid reads pretty much as written to me. I did what I have been told to do and ended up apologizing for it. One could say that IL should have been on time, but I arrive too late too often to too many places to be that one.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
When should we make calls to make a minyan?
General policy as per the ritual committee is to make calls to fill a minyan when there is someone present saying Kaddish or with a Yortsayt. This can't be done at Shabbat mincha as we don't make calls on Shabbat. But what about when there is a Torah reading? I would think that we wouldn't want to fail to have a minyan any time there is a Torah reading. And what about our Russian gentlemen? They find it very disturbing when we don't have a minyan even if there isn't anyone saying Kaddish or with a Yorstayt. They are elderly and their attendance is an effort that deserves to be dignified by the effort of a few phone calls. I follow the lead of the ritual committee here, but with qualms.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Why are we here?
This Shabbat at mincha we did not make minyan. This is the third evening minyan that fell through this week and that is just sad. I'm not sure what the priorities are or are thought to be at Cong. Beth Sholom these days, but if daily minyan isn't one of them I'm in the wrong place.
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