[HANASHIR:15394] Of Larynxgitis and Kol Nidre.....

[Robbi Sherwin <sherwin...>]

L'Shana tovah, y'all!  First, a story, then a request:

Story: I have been living every cantor's nightmare - starting about a day 
before RH, my throat became a bit scratchy and by the time I got to "Uv'chein" 
on Friday night, I had absolutely no voice.  I woke up yesterday morning with 
nada.  I frantically paged my doctor,  also my close friend, assuming her 
non-Jewish partner would be on call.  But Sharon herself returned my page - 
from Birmingham, (Steve Dropkin's shul) where Sharon's brother-in-law is a 
rabbi. She gave me some advice, a script for prednisone and I headed to shul.  
Based on the symptoms - I felt FINE - freaked out, exhausted and emotional - 
but nothing else hurt - she determined it was viral laryngitis.  I had caught 
something (OK, so I was also REALLY stressed and had become vulnerable to 
viruses) and basically, there was nothing I could do but wait (and drink warm 
liquids, get rest (Yeah, right! on  Rosh Hashana!) take Vit. C, and some zinc. 
"Don't forget to eat!" Sharon admonished.

I got to shul, which is on a big Jewish community campus where 4 congregations 
were having services (including Temple Beth Shalom, where our own Abby Gostein 
will be relocating to very soon!) and ran right into their space to find my 
buddy, Cantor Bruce Benson, who had come in to do services for TBS this year.  
Aside from some great hugs, a story about when it happened to him once and some 
terrific sympathy... his only other suggestion was for me to find someone to 
get me 3 Aleve, which would bring the swelling down in an hour -  he promised.

Well, as you know, all Jewish mothers are basically mobile pharmacies, so when 
the call came out to my congregants, I had a handful of Aleve in about, oh.... 
30 seconds, I downed three of them and went to face my Rabbi, Kerry Baker (of 
"B'ti" fame).  After a tearful apology, he said - no problem - we'll cope - and 
we started to plan.  I had some incredible musicians with me, and cope we did.  
My music partner, Scott Leader (fabulous new CD out - www.scottleader.com) who 
had come in from Phoenix, took a lot of the contemporary pieces, but Kerry was 
amazing. Without any prep whatsoever, he basically handled all the chazzanut - 
mostly in HH nusach - beautifully. He always had a pretty accurate voice, but 
he also just lost 110 lbs. in the last 15 months (gastric by-pass) and his 
voice was really good.  

As the hundreds of people in attendance sang along, and I could actually hear 
them, as I was not focused on leading the singing. I was able to daven and 
truly appreciate my musicians, which included a 3-piece percussion section, 
guitar and piano.  I truly in awe of the gift of leading this congregation.  
Many of you know they gave me a year off last year to pursue preparation for 
certification (I was in Denver) - they kept me on salary, brought me in monthly 
and waited patiently for my return.  When my president gave his remarks, he 
held me out as an example as someone who overcame a handicap, learned to "make 
do," surrounded myself with excellence and delegated.  I was floored. The only 
time I cried was during "Avinu Malkeinu" - I do the Janowski blow-out piece -  
it's my favorite.  Kerry read it in  English and we all did the "Avinu 
Malkeinu, chahneinu v'ahneinu...." chorus.

At last night's service (we do two full days of RH in our post-denominational 
shul) I had about 50% of my voice back, but still relied on Kerry and Scott do 
handle most of the singing - I was able to handle a little bit. This morning, I 
have no idea what is going to happen, but I am not freaked out or worried 
anymore -  Gd will provide.  (And Jewish mothers....)

So.............now to my request:  JUST IN CASE I don't have full capacity of 
my voice on YK (pooh.....poooh! poooh!) does anyone have a PDF file of Kol 
Nidre they could send me - Today?  I have it memorized and actually never sang 
it to a piece of music.  One of my congregants has an incredible voice and I 
want her to sing it - to give Kerry a break and also to start utilizing these 
amazing resources.  The sooner, the better, please - she'll need time to learn 
it.  Or a piece of sheet music - My address is below.

May this  NEVER happen to any of you - but if it does, trust that it will be 
okay.

b'shalom,
Robbi


"Bloom Where You're Planted....."

Cantor Robbi Sherwin
Congregation Kol Halev
Austin, Texas
(512) 467-7270
www.kolhalev.org
Spirited Jewish Songcrafting!
Pre-Order Aish HaKodesh: 
www.robbisherwin.com
robbisherwin (at) earthlink(dot)net
Home address:2609 Ellise Ave.
Austin, TX  78757