Monday, August 11, 2008

Nu, chevra, how'd it go?

Fast:
Mostly easy, though summer fasts that fall on Sunday are an abomination and should be abolished.

Insights:
Of all the things we don't read from a klaf, the shachris haftorah for 9 Av might be the most difficult. I've heard more than one reader get wrecked on the rocks of Jeremiah 8.13–9.23. It contains lots of weird words, and readers are further burderened by the custom of switching from the haftorah tune to the Eicha tune. This tune switch is difficult for amateurs to navigate, in part because the first word to be read with the Eicha tune is cantilated with a note that does not appear in Eicha. I've heard inexperienced readers drift accidently into the tune for Esther, or the tune for regular Torah reading. (The most difficult aliya to read from the Torah is the seventh in parshas vayishlach.)

Moments
None, I'm afraid.

Kids:
Invisible. Kol hakovod to the organizers of the Beijing Olympics, and also to the ohavai yisroel who scheduled a brand new Wizards of Waverly Place for yesterday evening.

How long was was shachris:
Too long. And hardly anyone stays to the end. Tisha B'av shachris is the most difficult of all the devenings. It's our K2, and percentage-wise, I bet more people make it to the top of the mountain.

Kinah for Gush Katif?
No

Kinah for holocaust?
Yes [Those who end the liturgical tour of Jewish tragedy at Chelminiki, yet also hold that Yom Hashoa is wrong "because we have tisha b'av" have, in Ricky's immortal words, some 'splainin' to do.]

Break fast:
Potato soup and lecho (same as last year.)

How'd things go for you? (Or to put it in the jargon of the blogosphere, I'm "tagging" all of you.")

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