Yes, 50. Perhaps a few more.
This morning’s services were good. They were led by Rabbi Sarah (last night was Rabbi Jim, the senior Rabbi). Both have good senses of humor. Jim’s came into play when they couldn’t get any match to work to light the candles (the air conditioning kept blowing them out). Sarah’s came into play when the cantor pointed to the wrong place for the Torah reading.
The sermon was good. It started out with Rabbi Sarah taking out a mirror, and adjusting her lipstick. She then used the metaphor to urge each of us to do our own “looking in the mirror” to see what we could change, and to take the time to look inside, not just the surface. She also made some interesting observations about the akida (binding of Isaac, for those less familiar): (1) that the first time the word “love” appears in the Torah, it is in the akida, and (2) although Abraham and Isaac start out loving, by the end they don’t even walk back together, and there is no further mention of them ever talking again. Thus, this single act moved them from love to estrangement. Interesting.
Oh yes, the 50 massed shofars. Evidently, they had a class and trained quite a few shofar blowers this year, many of them children. They had them positioned all around the sanctuary. That first Tekiah was quite startling, and they kept up the strength (although the adults should have held the Tekiah Gedolah a bit longer—it was under a minute). My wife found them “interesting”.
Although we had planned to go back to children’s services, the 30 minutes between the end of our service and the start of children’s service didn’t give us time to get lunch and get back. We’ll plan better next time (and it will be easier, as we don’t need to eat on YK, and can pack a lunch for S&F).
