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When the Bimah was Overflowing
North Miami Beach, Florida 9-30-2000 Aaron H. Schectman
THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on issues, ideas and reflections on the times. Published now and
then. Opinions pro or con are welcome.
WHEN THE BIMAH WAS OVERFLOWING WITH
B'NAI MITZVOT
Today Carol and I sang in Charlotte's Choir at Temple Sinai of North Dade
celebrating the Morning service for Rosh Hashanah. The Cantor, Adele
Nicholson, was in excellent form - her glorious soprano soaring in the
magnificent solos and counterpoint over our voices in the ritual music.
Rabbi Jim Simon scored heavily with an emotional revisiting his childhood
experience and attitude mixing it with observations on how we exclude others
who are "different".
But it was his call to the Bimah for all the B'nai Mitzvot that was most
impressive and thrilling. For those who do not know the words used in the
previous sentence and title of this piece I shall explain. Bimah is the
space around the "altar" where stands the lectern used by the Rabbi. This
is in front of the doors to the Ark in which the Torah scrolls are kept.
The B'nai Mitzvot is plural for Bar and Bat Mitzvah, the coming of age
ceremony and performance of 13 year old boys and girls.
The Rabbi asked for all those in the Congregation who had their ceremonies
in Temple Sinai to come up for a final "Aliyah". This means the honor of
accompanying the reader (the most recent Bar Mitzvah) by reciting the
prayers before and after the reading.
It was astonishing to witness at least one half or more of those present in
this very large Sanctuary rising and then, this mass, filing down all the
aisles, cascading up to pack the space and overflowing the stairs in front
of the Ark.
At the end Rabbi Simon, overwhelmed like the rest of us, remarked that next
year he should ask those NOT having a ceremony at Temple Sinai come up.
Happy New Year to all and to all a GOOD Year!
Carol's Evaluation: 10 out of 10.
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