Kiddush Starts When?! « Rejewvenate!

Kiddush Starts When?!

June 22, 2008 at 12:02 pm | In Shabbat, halacha, orthodox | 5 Comments

In my last post I discussed how shul as an institution has not yet adapted to the lifestyle of the progressive observant family. Here now are some concrete suggestions for making that shift.

Shul has got to be shorter. A typical Young Israel starts at 9 AM and gets to kiddush at about noon, or even later. For many people, coming late is simply a way of managing the amount of time you’re will to spend in shul. I would argue that for most people, three plus hours is well past the point of diminishing spiritual returns.

To make shul shorter, I say we do a ‘heicha’ kedushah (that’s where instead of doing all of Chazarat HaShatz after the silent recitation of the Amidah, the Chazan says the first part of Chazart HaShatz, through the kedushah, aloud, prior to the silent recitation of the Amidah by the congregation) for all of the Amidot.

Chazarat HaShatz served two halachic purposes. The first was to provide those who did not know the davening by heart and either could not read or had no access to a siddur a means to fulfill their obligation to pray. The second was to bind the congregation together into a tzibbur – a communal prayer group. With the advent of Gutenberg, Artscroll, and Amazon.com, there is no lack in our Jewish community for printed siddurim, and the heicha kedushah would serve the latter purpose as well, and more quickly, than the full version. Have you looked around recently during Chazarat HaShatz? It feels like a Victorian drawing room – a bunch of people are reading books, there are some not-so-hushed conversations, lots of people mill around, and lost in all this is the drone of a Chazan reciting a prayer that everyone in the room has jsut gotten through reciting themselves.

Taking off Chazarat HaShatz would easily cut at least twenty to thirty minutes off of the shul experience. Let’s go one further – let’s also return to the triennial Torah-reading cycle. There’s no chiyuv to read the Torah in one year. In fact, the obligation to read Torah on Shabbat is to read seven aliyot. You could read the first column of the Torah every Shabbat and fulfill your obligation. You could easily save twenty minutes, and even more on those weeks that have very long parshas.

There’s also room to trim the beginning. Davening in shul should start from Baruch She’amar. People should recite Brikot Hashachar and Korbanot at home, as the Shulchan Aruch sets down.

Finally, shuls must be strict about liming Hosafot, mishebeirachs, announcements, mazel tovs, speeches, appeals, and so forth. Isn’t it more natural for most of the administrative stuff to happen at kiddush, rather than while everyone is still in their talleisim? As important, shul must be quiet – conversations cannot be tolerated. If you want a davening that is both dignified and well-paced, you have to shut up!

If you adopt all of these changes, you can get through Shabbat morning davening in no more than two hours, and I’ll bet that yours will be the most popular shul in town.

5 Comments »

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Hey rejewvenator,

You make some very interesting points here and in many of your previous posts. Social dynamics that have become ingrained and are hard to change. However, with patience, tolerance, and mutual respect, I think anything can be done. Bravo to you on taking the first step.

Comment by cactusflower99 — June 22, 2008 #

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Good post, but not radical enough.

It’s time to reshuffle the whole service.

Can we agree that musaf is a problem? A fourth amidah doesn’t really make sense in a culture which doesn’t have three daily amidot. Focusing on the korbanot doesn’t make senses in a culture that really doesn’t want wild fanatics raising red heiffers and self-appointed sanhedrins blowing up mosques.

But in traditional services, we have musaf in the prime real estate, right between the sermon and the kiddush.

So why not try something like this:

Brachot hashacha / in-lieu-of-korbanot torah study / musaf amida (with heichi kedusha)

Psukei d’zimra (selected, but sung) / Nishmat

Triennial Torah Service / Storatelling

Barchu / Kriat Shma / Shacharit Amida

Sermon

Ashrei / misc. psalms / Aleinu

This arrangement brings actual davening front and center in the service.

10:00 am: For davening fanatics

10:30 am: Hear the bar mitzvah boy

11:00 Daven with the community

11:30 Hear the rabbi

12:00 eat

Or, in these post-modern, siddur-equipped times, it might make sense to shuffle all of this about.

What do you think?

Comment by Reb Yudel — July 3, 2008 #

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It’s definitely not radical enough! The davening has expanded over the years to include more and more mumbled words that nobody pays any attention to. Thank God it’s in Hebrew, so at least it retains a sense of mystery!

Here’s my ideal service:

Start with 10-15 minutes of meditative chanting. I’d just have everyone recite the text of Baruch She’amar over and over again.

Follow that up with barchu through Amidah (heicha kedusha) – 20 minutes. Break up into Chavruta for some study of the parsha for 30 minutes(triennial cycle), followed by laining and a speech/shiur (30 – 40 minutes). Go directly from eitz chayim hee into heicha kedusah musaf, then aleinu, then kiddush.

Trim the fat, make davening a participatory experience that encourages reflection and requires bringing something of yourself, not being a passive audience-member. And enough with mumbling so many words! Let’s say fewer words, but really try to mean them.

Comment by rejewvenator — July 4, 2008 #

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You heretic! I just happened to be looking up something unrelated on Berachot 61a, where I found this:

“R. Huna further said in the name of R. Meir: A man’s words should always be few in addressing the Holy One, blessed be He, since it says, Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thy heart be hasty to utter a word before God,’ for God is in heaven and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few.”

Comment by Reb Yudel — July 4, 2008 #

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Rabbi Meir managed to condense all of Torah she’be’al peh into the mishnah – he was a man of brevity!

Look also at the Rambam, especially at the end of the Guide, where he basically says that meditative prayer is the only true prayer, and that everything else is just leading up to it. How today’s davening could ever lead to meditative prayer is beyond me.

Comment by rejewvenator — July 4, 2008 #

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