Deconstructing "Deaf Man in a Shtiebel"
I was listening to my playlist this morning, and the song "Deaf Man in a Shtiebel" came on. This is the type of song that's written to pull on your heartstrings, and I guess it does a good job, but it is not rooted in logic. This bothers me more than it does other people, so I'm going to rant a little bit about it:
(For anyone unfamiliar with the song, the lyrics are here, just search for the words "deaf man". Oh and apparently it's a knockoff of this song.)
1) First of all, the chazzan's father died the night before...should he really be coming to shul? I don't know if Yom Kippur breaks aveilut or not, but it's the first night...it seems a little bit rushed. In any case, if he is breaking his aveilut, there's a process for that...you don't just run into shul and start to daven at the amud.
2) Which leads me to the second point: if the chazzan's father died, how is it that nobody in the shul, not even the rabbi, knows about it? That doesn't make any sense. First of all, this is the chazzan of the shul. Second of all, the father davens there every week. How can it be that none of these people have heard about it?
3) Oh, and "half the shul can hear the rabbi ask, 'How come so late?'" Rude much? To be fair, it is a shtiebel, so it could just be that "half the shul" is crowded right around the amud.
4) And the chazzan answers, "Just getting ready for Yom Kippur." This shul is completely bizzare. The father was a regular in the shul and it's some kind of secret that he died?
5) Then at the end, this is supposedly the most heartbreaking and emotional Kol Nidrei ever. I get that they did it that way because Kol Nidrei is the first of the Yom Kippur davenings, but the thing is that Kol Nidrei is not that emotional. It's a legal annulment of your vows (sort of). If you want to pick a piece that's going to make everyone cry, choose Unetaneh Tokef (oy, that would be really sad).
Join me next week for the same type of rant on "Mama Rachel." Jokes!
(For anyone unfamiliar with the song, the lyrics are here, just search for the words "deaf man". Oh and apparently it's a knockoff of this song.)
1) First of all, the chazzan's father died the night before...should he really be coming to shul? I don't know if Yom Kippur breaks aveilut or not, but it's the first night...it seems a little bit rushed. In any case, if he is breaking his aveilut, there's a process for that...you don't just run into shul and start to daven at the amud.
2) Which leads me to the second point: if the chazzan's father died, how is it that nobody in the shul, not even the rabbi, knows about it? That doesn't make any sense. First of all, this is the chazzan of the shul. Second of all, the father davens there every week. How can it be that none of these people have heard about it?
3) Oh, and "half the shul can hear the rabbi ask, 'How come so late?'" Rude much? To be fair, it is a shtiebel, so it could just be that "half the shul" is crowded right around the amud.
4) And the chazzan answers, "Just getting ready for Yom Kippur." This shul is completely bizzare. The father was a regular in the shul and it's some kind of secret that he died?
5) Then at the end, this is supposedly the most heartbreaking and emotional Kol Nidrei ever. I get that they did it that way because Kol Nidrei is the first of the Yom Kippur davenings, but the thing is that Kol Nidrei is not that emotional. It's a legal annulment of your vows (sort of). If you want to pick a piece that's going to make everyone cry, choose Unetaneh Tokef (oy, that would be really sad).
Join me next week for the same type of rant on "Mama Rachel." Jokes!