1 - You're supposed to start musaf before the seventh hour of the day. Many authorities advise skipping piyutim, and making Shachris shorter to ensure the deadline is met. So why do many shuls break before musaf, thus ensuring that musaf will start late?
2 - I'm an irreverant guy, with an irreverent blog, but on Yom Kippur I am all business. I keep my mouth shut, my eyes in my machzor, and I spend the day singing and davening. So it's hard for me to understand the irreverence that's displayed by so many people, especially during Neeilla. I don't mean the sitting in front of the open Ark which, though allowed, remains a pet peeve. I mean the joking, and the laughing, and the shmoozing. I've seen it in shteebles, and I've seen it in Big Shuls. They do it where shtreimals are worn, and they do it where the Hatikva is sung. And I just don't get it.
3 - Perhaps some of the ladies in the readership can explain why many of you pin doilies on to your heads before entering the sanctuary. Does it have to be a doily, or will a napkin or a piece of Bounty paper towel suffice? Are you trying to cover your hair with the lacy, see-through-material? Or is this your idea of a yarmulka?
