By Rabbi Michael S. Beals, Rabbi at Temple Beth El
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I have been a rabbi for 29 years. In that time, I have served three congregations. More importantly for this article, I have served alongside eight different cantors and hazzanim*, and I am now preparing High Holy Days 5787 with my NINTH.
It is true that I have been blessed—in Conservative and Reconstructionist synagogues in Los Angeles, Wilmington, and now Newark—to use the SAME wonderful machzor, Machzor Hadash. However, each cantor has required a total of about 10–15 hours to review each of the five services of the season: Erev Rosh Hashana, Rosh Hashana Day 1, Rosh Hashana Day 2, Kol Nidrei, and Yom Kippur.
That’s a total of 135 hours reviewing the same material with nine different musical meyvens. And I know that might sound tedious, but can I share something with you? It’s a BLESSING! Besides reviewing the mechanics—like, do we repeat the Amidah at Shacharit (the morning service) if we are also repeating it at Musaph (the early afternoon service), or did we forget to strike the shofar service and Avinu Malkeinu (my favorite High Holy Day melody) from First Day Rosh Hashana because it’s on Shabbat—I am learning something so much more important.
Through all these hours pouring over the same pages together, I am learning the interior personality of my bima partner. I am learning what makes them laugh, what they feel is really important, what past stories and personal histories they bring to this service. And, in all that time together, we are creating bonds and a clergy relationship that will be felt and experienced by the congregants facing in our direction for many hours. Seeing a natural rapport and warmth between the rabbi and the cantor makes services far more spiritual, uplifting, and fun.
This year, at Temple Beth El, I have the pleasure of working with Reb Ezra Weinberg, a Reconstructionist rabbi, ritual musician, and educator, dedicated to facilitating and supporting transformative Jewish rituals. A skill he will not be utilizing from the High Holy Day bima are the two organizations he has founded—Jews Get Divorced and Areivut—which aim to bridge the gap between Jewish wisdom and practice. Reb Ezra strives to put resources in the hands of clergy and other community leaders who may be called upon as a “divorce first responder,” as Reb Ezra puts it.
Although not sharing his Jewish expertise on divorce from the High Holy Day bima, Reb Ezra’s familiarity with the subject makes him highly empathetic to how emotionally fraught the High Holy Days can be, especially for families who may have recently transformed due to divorce, with accompanying pain to spouses who now find themselves single, or kids who are missing their former nuclear family or discovering that their seemingly “Ozzie and Harriet Family” was not so “Ozzie and Harriet” as they thought.
I have traveled several times from Wilmington up to Reb Ezra’s very cool Mount Airy neighborhood for a meal and bonding. I have learned not only about his own divorce, but about his children, his parents, his resiliency, and his new significant other, who will be joining us for services. While I tend to wear a tie and jacket, Reb Ezra’s clothing is far more relaxed, comfortable looking, and he sports a great ponytail that I can only dream of. His gentle style and kindness are just the complement I am seeking in a High Holy Day bima partner.
What I have enjoyed best of all is sharing tunes with him, including seeing what songs we share and what special niggunim (wordless melodies) he wishes to bring to each service, as a way of entering and eventually leaving a spiritual space. For Selichot services on Saturday, September 5, at 7 PM, Reb Ezra has asked that the chairs be placed in Rising Song Institute-style concentric circles, to create the feeling of a campfire. While we do not use guitars during high holy services, Selichot is very different. So, our guest cantor will treat us to guitar playing during services. This will be our congregants first encounter with their High Holy Day cantor, and I want them to encounter Reb Ezra’s spirituality and kindness through his music.
I realize that most High Holy Day congregants, especially those who come just once a year, never consider all the behind-the-scenes preparation that rabbis and cantors do together, and separately, to make Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur special for the worshippers. Even with the moving sermons and polished musical presentations, considering the unintentional, and in my case, very intentional effort placed into bonding might be even more important than what is actually said and sung from the pulpit. They say that communication is 20% verbal and 80% nonverbal. For me, that means that unplanned checking in visually between rabbi and cantor—a shared smile at an unexpected moment, a mutual understanding when a cue is missed or a word is mispronounced, a visual bond of camaraderie which is shared between two colleagues striving to bring God’s presence into the congregation—are so much more important than what is actually said or sung.
I know this is my ninth time at bat with a cantorial colleague. I have enjoyed every one of them: Josh, Robert, Neil, Michael, Ruth, Elisa, Bronwen, Kevin and now Ezra. They each brought their own unique something to the bima to which I was able to react and play off, and best of all, harmonize with—my favorite thing to do musically at the Yamim Nora’im.
Consider this your formal invitation to join me at Temple Beth El this High Holy Days season and, armed with what you now know, see Reb Ezra Weinberg and me in action, and you can judge for yourself—can you feel the rapport, enjoy the melodies, pick up on the unexpressed joke, feel the Divine Presence? Are you moved, especially in moments like Kol Nidrei, introduced by a haunting cello solo; or the stirring Hineini, when the cantor pleads his case before God; the moving melody of Mah Tovu written by Louis Lewandowski; or the familiar “Barbara Streisand” version of Avinu Malkeinu, composed by Max Janowski?
Now that I have shared a behind-the-scenes take on at least one rabbi-cantor relationship on display at High Holy Days, I will be checking in with you visually from time-to-time from the bima, hoping that this new-found knowledge enhances your High Holy Day experience.
L’shana Tovah!
