[HANASHIR:3206] Friday Night Live

[Rick Lupert <Rick...>]

Hi all,

Thought I'd share a little story from tonight's Friday Night Live 
service...this is the one which Craig Taubman leads (usually with 
Rabbi David Wolpe) that's geared towards "young professionals." 
There were about 1500 people there, and a good amount of singing from 
the congregation (though I know Craig wanted more from)...at one 
point lots of the congregation got up and danced through the aisles 
as we sang through Oseh Shalom and an impromptu Am3 medley of 
Z'mirot.  I sat in the front row as I'm a front row junkie...it 
certainly wasn't as intense as Hava Nashira, but it was the most 
energetic and engaging service I've been to in Los Angeles 
in...well...possibly ever.

And now the very cool moment which happened:

After the service a lot goes on...hundreds of people go to the food 
room, hundreds of others Israeli Dance, a good number of people go 
for a smaller Theological discussion with the Rabbi, and there is 
more mingling than you can shake a stick out.  (Though I'm not sure 
why anyone would shake a stick at minglers.)

A while into this after service period, I'm sitting with Craig on the 
Bimah as he packs up his guitar and prepares to go home...on the 
other side of the sanctuary is the Israeli Dancing...just as we are 
having a nice reflective moment about Hava Nashira, we notice that 
the dance leader has put on a song which sounds very familiar...we 
look at each other and realize it's Od yavosh Shalom Aleinu...(for 
those who weren't at Hava Nashira...this is the tune which two people 
started singing in the dining hall one night during the meal which 
ended about 40 minutes letter with the entire group singing and 
dancing with impromptu line dances and klezmer 
accompaniment...well...there it was...Craig and I couldn't believe we 
were hearing this...and we were, for a moment, transported to last 
week...to that moment we all shared.

There are no coincidences.

xxoo

Rick

Lupert: It's The Website - @ - Poetry Super Highway
http://PoetrySuperHighway.com/

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