Tekiah! The call of the Shofar goes out, summoning Jewsto gather and celebrate the New Year. This is a time in the Jewish year thatholds special meaning for me, and was even more special this year because mytemple gave me the chance to lead the children's services on the first day ofRosh Hashanah. This opportunity not only aided in the festiveness of RoshHashanah, but also brought me a bit closer to a possible future as arabbi.
When I was first told that I would be in charge of leading andpossibly creating the children's service for Rosh Hashanah, I was ecstatic. Thefew times I had helped my cantor lead Friday night Shabbat services, I'd reallyenjoyed it. The Rosh Hashanah children's service, where I had helped by blowingthe Shofar for many years, was finally going to be under my leadership.
When I was asked to create a new service, I jumped at the occasion. Asthe religious and cultural vice president of my youth group, I had created somein the past. Finding the old service, I copied pages of prayer, and laid them ona long table. I then inserted readings, copied the pages and gave it all to theRabbi, who thought the final product was great.
The actual day of theservice was even better than my anticipation. I arrived at Temple to find themulti-purpose room set for a service. The portable ark had a Torah scroll in it,and the copies of the service I had created were all ready to go. The time tolead was approaching. I gathered friends to help, and we led the kindergartenersthrough sixth graders in Rosh Hashanah prayer.
When I saw the looks onthe kids' faces - those who weren't falling asleep - I saw how they were capturedby the service, and enjoyed being led in prayer by teenagers instead of adults.They followed along and sang with the prayers. They listened when we spoke, andeven spoke themselves. When it was time for me to blow the Shofar, there was deadsilence. As if they were meeting one of their favorite athletes, the kids alllooked up in wonder as I blew a Tekiah.
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