[HANASHIR:3542] This List

[NeilNFW <NeilNFW...>]

Hello all,

I have been a member of this list for three years now.  When I first signed 
on, I was treated to a creative sharing of ideas and a place where 
songleaders could seek aid in finding sources and new material.  It was also 
a fun place with an occasional weird joke by Brian Serle or a 
toungue-in-cheek comment from Rick Lupert.

I am troubled by the number of times that I have seen a question phrased "I 
am doing such and such.  Is this OK?" and many responses coming back "I would 
never..." or "Halachically speaking...."  We are not a council or governing 
body.  The music that we create, the atmosphere that we create must live 
through each of us or die.  I think that it is great that someone has added a 
verse to "Master of all Things," or that someone wants to do L'cha Dodi when 
they feel it is appropriate.  Tradition may dictate otherwise, but tradition 
is also a living thing.  If I want to set a mood by singing Sim Shalom at the 
beginning of a Friday night service, I think that's peachy.  Will I be 
stricken and cursed because Sim Shalom is a "morning prayer?"  Will I be 
expelled by my congregation?  No.  I will still be a songleader the next 
morning.

A question:  I take requests during religion school.  Have any of you who do 
the same ever said "no" to a song becuase it is the wrong time of year?  I 
won't say no to a student who wants to sing "O! Chanukah" in February.  That 
student has a love for the music.  What I do is now living through him or her.

Please, there are so many negatives in life.   Let's not set dicta.  Let's 
not come down on people simply because we have are own opinions, which are 
merely that.  Let's share and expand and live.

Yours,
Neil Weinstein
Bellevue, WA

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