Ask The Rabbi!!

Tenor CS · 06-14-2009, 08:45 AM

Hi Rabbi:

I was raised in the Episcopal church, but in high school, we (my chorus) formed a partnership with the temple across the street. That partnership evolved into a friendship with the cantor. In fact, I wound up being invited to sing for High Holy Days for 15 years with that temple until I moved away.

Please excuse any misspellings in my attempts to transliterate Hebrew.

A couple of questions:

1. There was this one part in one of the services; they would bring up all of the men in the congregation who were of age and had last names like Cohn, Cohen, or Cohan. They referred to them as the "Kohanim" I think. The men would cover their whole faces and heads with their prayer shawls, and many people in the congregation would turn away from the bima. What exactly was going on during this part of the service? Why couldn't they show their faces and why would people turn away?

2. In another service, when they blew the shofar, the rabbi would have various chants in between shofar blasts. One sounded like "te ki ya" and another sounded like "kee ya ga do la." What do these mean?

Thank you for this thread, it is a great read.

PS: The cantor and his brother (who conducted the High Holy Day choir) at the temple always considered me an "honorary Jew." They even picked out a Hebrew name for me: Mordechai. And after 13 years of singing with them, they had a little Bar Mitzvah party for me. It was a great time and they were wonderful people. I miss them.

06-14-2009, 08:45 AM	#9
Tenor CS Feeling Better! Join Date: Oct 2008 First Name: Christian Location: Davenport, FL (near Orlando) Posts: 717 Trading: (2)	Re: Ask The Rabbi!! Hi Rabbi: I was raised in the Episcopal church, but in high school, we (my chorus) formed a partnership with the temple across the street. That partnership evolved into a friendship with the cantor. In fact, I wound up being invited to sing for High Holy Days for 15 years with that temple until I moved away. Please excuse any misspellings in my attempts to transliterate Hebrew. A couple of questions: 1. There was this one part in one of the services; they would bring up all of the men in the congregation who were of age and had last names like Cohn, Cohen, or Cohan. They referred to them as the "Kohanim" I think. The men would cover their whole faces and heads with their prayer shawls, and many people in the congregation would turn away from the bima. What exactly was going on during this part of the service? Why couldn't they show their faces and why would people turn away? 2. In another service, when they blew the shofar, the rabbi would have various chants in between shofar blasts. One sounded like "te ki ya" and another sounded like "kee ya ga do la." What do these mean? Thank you for this thread, it is a great read. PS: The cantor and his brother (who conducted the High Holy Day choir) at the temple always considered me an "honorary Jew." They even picked out a Hebrew name for me: Mordechai. And after 13 years of singing with them, they had a little Bar Mitzvah party for me. It was a great time and they were wonderful people. I miss them. __________________ When the world itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies?