[HANASHIR:7891] Re: Guitar-led service in Israel prevented

[Laura Ferguson <allenderl...>]

IMHO:

I understand with going with the flow, but I also am outraged by the 
mashkiach's hypocrisy.  Sometimes there is a middle ground... if ... the 
situation is right.

At a wedding of a friend (who is Conservative), I was asked by his ultra-O 
brother in law why I was wearing a keepah.  I replied "Some people wear 
hats, some people where wigs", and glancing at his wigged wife, "some 
people wear keepah's...."  That was the end of his objection...

He also asked whether I lit candles every week.  I replied, "I often light 
candles, and I take great pleasure in chanting  Torah, leading music at 
services and participating in a full Jewish life."

He made a few more efforts to convince me that I was missing out by not 
doing my weekly "candle lighting", but soon let the debate die and so our 
casual, friendly acquaintance remained intact.  (I had spent a portion of 
the long weekend teaching his 8 Israeli born children the joys of Chicago 
softball.)

In the situation Adam describes it's not clear what he could have done.  On 
the other hand, as a community we can not let it go either.  If we cannot 
perform fulfill ourselves spiritually at the Crowne Plaza then perhaps we 
shouldn't stay there at all.

Laura

At 10:23 PM 1/14/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>I returned Thursday from participating in this year's Birthright Israel trip
>through Hillel.  The ten days I spent in Israel were incredible.  I brought
>my guitar with me and intended to help lead a Reform service Friday night.
>The Reform service was held in a room in the Crowne Plaza in Jerusalem,
>where we were staying.  Just a few minutes before the service was to begin,
>I was informed by hotel staff that I could not play my guitar.  Apparently
>the mashkiach of the hotel had threatened to revoke the hotel's kashrut
>certificate if I played my guitar on Shabbat.  Not wishing to ruin the
>sanctity of Shabbat, we did not protest.  The Rabbi leading the service and
>I went on to lead a wonderfully spirited service which was very well
>received by many students who rarely if ever attended Shabbat services.
>
>I know that Reform services in other hotels used guitars without any
>incident.  The mashkiach of the Crowne Plaza didn't seem to have any problem
>with people smoking in the lobby or the bar selling drinks on Shabbat.
>
>My own views on religious pluralism are presently in a state of confusion,
>but I'm curious to the views of the people on this list.
>
>B'Shalom,
>Adam Griff
>

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