Shake Rabbi and Roll!

There are many kinds of Jews, and Ross and I are not perhaps the best kind. A bit like a child learning the piano, we practised a little but would usually prefer to do something else. In England we attended synagogue on high holydays only and I didn't really enjoy it for several reasons.
Firstly the entire proceedings were in Hebrew, which meant I didn't really understand what was going on. I spent more of the service trying to find my place in the prayer book than feeling any kind of spiritual growth.
The only part of the service I could understand was the sermon. As a child the rabbi's job was to berate those members of the congregation who did not attend regularly. Plus I felt ostrosized by the regular members who did. They were very friendly with each other and I felt left out. (Of course if they had seen me more than three times a year, things may have been different).
The orthodox synagogue was a very serious affair. Generally only those born as Jews attended. Men and women sat separately, you had to dress very formally with hats, try not to talk and in my case, often struggle to stay awake. The woman's place is in the kitchen, so they take no role in the service at all, although of course they can provide food for afterwards.
Despite this, we still feel a need to be true to our roots, especially since we have arrived in our promised land. So right away we joined the local synagogue here in Naperville.
Religion can be a controversial topic for discussion, so I've avoided writing about it on the blog, but when the rabbi last night lept on a chair playing the guitar in the middle of the service, I could bear it no longer.
To say the Reconstructionalist approach to Judaism is a little different to my upbringing, is like saying George Bush is the greatest president this country has ever known. (See how I'm mixing politics and religion - God help me, Mr President!)
Firstly, men and women can sit together. Some women wear kippahs, the skullcaps only men wear traditionally. The congregation are wonderfully friendly and the whole ethos is for inclusivity, so non Jewish friends and partners are welcomed. Heck, some weeks the place has been crowded out with visiting church groups.
The best attended service is on Friday night, not Saturday. (Apparently so everyone can spend the sabbath going shopping, taking the kids to sports etc.) The service is led by a male rabbi and a female cantor. One or both of them will play the guitar. On Sunday we attended a gospel brunch at the House of Blues in Chicago and there were definite similarities! One week they even had a live band on stage with a Powerpoint presentation showing the words to the hymns. The prayerbook is in Hebrew, but with a phonetic English version for dummies like me who never listened in Hebrew School and non-Jewish visitors.
Last night was extra special, as it was a farewell to the congregation's rabbi. Now rumour has it the rabbi was a little too orthodox in his sermons for some of the members liking, so he now has to search the wilderness searching for pastures new.
Orthodox! They should attend the services I've been too. Anyway, for his swansong, he certainly pulled out all the stops, and I don't mean on the organ.
As the service wore on, he became more and more, shall we say, relaxed.
He played the guitar throughout, and for one song called on his wife to accompany him.
"I know everyone told Paul McCartney not to let his wife join the band when he formed Wings, but he never listened and neither did I", he said.
After that he became so enthused in another rousing chorus he literally jumped on a chair. (Obviously a frustrated rock and roll star).
Naturally he saved the best for last. He called on his family to join him for the final hymn. That's been one of the few things about the service I have recognised up until now. Not this time.
My Sweet Lord will never sound the same again! He left the complicated guitar rifts to someone else who unfortunately could not play them either. I for one will greatly miss the rock and roll rabbi, and hope he manages to find a new flock to tend very soon. Of course if the congregation found him a little traditional in his ideas heaven only knows who we'll get next!