Im Halacha C'moti

Break during J Studs

The URJ Kutz Campus for Reform Jewish Teen Life was just turned upside down, completely. We were forced to re-assess and define what our views on T'fillah and services were.

A visiting Faculty Member, Composer Mark Bloom, led evening weekday services yesterday. We had felt his presence a Little bit earlier on in the session with his 'musical stylings through the venue of his keyboard and pre-set beats. People viewed his musical input as somewhat sacrilegious, although no real hubbub was made, maybe a, "who was that guy with the keyboard?".

So, with a few disciples, most of whom are friends of mine, he decided to do services on a 'jazz' theme, inclusive of his keyboard, a microphone, a drum and some guitars. Beginning of the services were awkward, with people confused as to whether or not to clap after a song and such. When some of the hard-hitting prayers came up - such as the Amidah, the Chatzi kaddish, and the shemah, people were shocked to hear jazz stylings in the background, and prayers cut short for the sake a new song.

This made an uproar, which was exemplified by people, individually, getting up and leaving the services. People were offended to say the least. At some point in the service, the NFTY North American President got up and quietly told people he was leading alternative services in the bathroom.

By the end of the service, I'd say about 48% of the population was gone, leaving the rest to talk amongst themselves about the various outrages against Judaism that this service was committing. Also, afterward, our evening program was a sort of family feud/American idol thing, in which people were given the chance to sing - acapella - and be judged by celebrity judges, and during the singing Mr. Bloom deemed it necessary to add background music.

Personally, i found his service disrespectful to T'filah and prayer. That is NOT, and i repeat, NOT to say that he deserves disrespect in return. I have no qualms with those who left the service, i had to leave during the Aleinu, even though i don't stand during it, because i don't like what it says, it still deserves to be respected. An Eye for an Eye, disrespect for disrespect, does not work in this case. The minion in the bathroom was the right thing, at the wrong time.

They say that to shame someone is to kill them, and i think that no more K'vetching is needed.

Our J-Law class prompted us to think, what are our boundaries in the context of T'filah, as in, what is appropriate, and what is our breaking point. Here's a good question:

Halacha:
say the SHemah 2x a day
DOn't mix meat and milk
light the shabbat candles
separation btwn men and women

WHY WE NO DO?

I brought up Bava Metziah 59 b in the conversation - one of my favorite Jewish Texts, one of the bases of Judaism. In it, Rabbi Eliazer says, "Im Halacha C'moti" - if Halacha is as i say it is - then, a carab tree will be uprooted, and a stream will reverse its flow, and the voice of God, the Bat Kol, will speak up for me, all of which happened. How can one argue that Halacha is not as Rav Eliazer says it is? Rabbi Joshua has an answer, "Lo Ba-shamiem He", It is not in the heavens. To which God laughs and says, "my children have defeated me, my children have defeated me". The nimshal, or moral of this story is that Halacha is every changing, ever evolving, and can never be set as one thing. Halacha is as i say it is.

What is your Halacha?