There was a time when my davening was consistent. Day in and day out you could guarantee that I would make the minyan. For a variety of reasons that stopped a while ago. I won’t say that it is never going to start again, but right now it is a bit sporadic. Nonetheless it is not out of the question to find me there.
Today was one of those days in which I made it to minyan. I have mentioned on more than one occasion that davening can be tough. It is sometimes hard to focus. During Shacharit I often place my tallis over my head during the Shmoneh Esreh because it is just easier for me to focus. In fact I would consider wearing it over my head all day long, but it is wool and summer has hit. It is just too darn hot to that.
So today I did my best to focus. I almost managed to ignore the grumpy old men who find it necessary to suddenly shout/mutter various lines. It is a universal practice that I have seen done in shuls in LA, Jerusalem, Toronto, New York etc.
Another thing that I have noticed in every shul is the prevalence of people who daven off key, or should I clarify that by saying that they sing poorly, loudly and with reckless abandon. In most shuls it is considered bad form to help correct the situation by smacking them across the face with your siddur.
Since we somehow wandered over to the topic of music here is an abbreviated list of what I listened to this evening.
I Melt
Rascal Flatts
You Raise Me Up
Josh Groban
Blue Monday
Orgy
The Bad Touch
Bloodhound Gang
Bring Me To Life
Evanescence
The Hand That Feeds
Nine Inch Nails
Bullroarer
Midnight Oil
Cornflake Girl
Tori Amos
Adagio For Strings
New Zealand Orchestra
The Lonesome Kicker
Adam Sandler
May This Be Love
Emmylou Harris
Let’s Fall In Love
Frank Sinatra
The Mighty Quinn
Bob Dylan
Without Me
Eminem
Rappers Delight
Sugarhill Gang
Master of Puppets
Metallica
It gets even better when the person singing off key is your best buddy in shul–and is sitting, as usual, right next to you.
And that’s the one on your *left.* The one on your *right* sings even *more* off key. Sigh.
I just found Jamie Cullum, “All At Sea”
I’ll have to check that out.
Orie,
The grumpy old men are kind of fun. As to the ITunes, well you never know. One of these days.
Smooth,
I have got a lot of Dylan. Good stuff.
Ahh, Dylan. Now you’re cooking.
I almost managed to ignore the grumpy old men who find it necessary to suddenly shout/mutter various lines.
Hmmm…to me those grumpy old men are one of the things I love about going to shul! They always make me giggle. (And we’ve got loads of them at my shul.)
I love it when you post what you’re listening to…you should make some imixes on itunes.
I just found Jamie Cullum, “All At Sea”…I am going to look up some of waht you have here that I havent heard yet…