I have all these thoughts in my head that aren’t really full posts so I figured I would compile all the craziness that has been swishing around in my mind today. I am wondering – should I devote one post a day to a short random thought? What do you think?
Is it me or do Kohanim look like zombies or frankenstein when they duchen? They have their arms outstretched shake from side to side and most of the time sound like a bunch of dying cows.
Have you ever pretended to follow along when they were laining by just skipping pages when everyone else did? Do you think it makes you appear frummer than you are?
When is the last time you faked shmona esray? I think mine was during high school – I used to be so spaced out I would just wait for three people to finish and then sit down.
dude, you make me feel so religious. I never faked a shemona esray, though I have done them at breakneck speeds from time to time, well, many times. As for the leining thing, you follow when you follow, you don’t when you don’t who cares what the guy you’re shmoozing with thinks?
I never understood the fake shmoneh esray. If you don’t want to daven, save yourself the 3 minutes of standing and looking like a fool because you turn around every 20 seconds and stay seated.
I used to fake the shmoneh esray everyday in through High School. We were forced to do it everyday so pretty much everyone faked it that I went to school with. My connectionwith Judaism came after HS, so I haven’t since, but I definitely faked it before.
When I think about it why fake it? If you are standing there staring at the pages anyway, why not read it? It can’t hurt to just read it if you are standing there looking at the pages anyway.
Tuvia, the same question can be asked about anything. If you’re already in this world, why fake it — why not do what you were sent for?
I faked shmonah esray everyday of high school unless I was hiding in the bathroom. I went to a religious school my entire life but for some reason I never learnt how to daven until after high school.
And as for the page turning during laining- I used to do that to, now I just openly space out with the chumash closed. And it turns out no one cares
Thats a very good thought provoking question. In recent years I have slowly become more and more religious, so I guess I can really relate to that thought process. If I am here anyway, why not do it right? I am still in the process, but I am working on doing it right!
I dont know how you people sit through all those ours of davening and learning. Maybe thats the reason why so many jewish boys are obese. I would go crazy not moving for so long.
I faked shmonah esray from 1st grade until 12th grade., but haven’t had to since then.
AE – we are so proud of you.
I faked Shemona Esrei when I was going to a Conservative synagogue for the high holidays before I got all BT’d up. I didn’t fake it because I wanted to, I simply had no idea what to do and I didn’t want anyone else realizing I was clueless. I tried to read the English, but it was a bunch of stuff I didn’t understand nor cared about.
Why the focus on Shemonah Esrei? When I was a kid I used to fake through pretty much everything. Daydreaming is a lot more fun than mumbling. These days, I pretty much daven or don’t.
I’ve seen guys sitting down in shul-mostly during the week. I think the guy’s davening really hated a girl being on to that.
I know of two brothers age 3 and 5 that like to “play shul.” I laugh to myself thinking, “I wonder how many grown men are actually ‘playing shul’?”
The Kohanim where I go to shul now sound like dying cows for sure.
i faked all of davening from 4th grade through 8th, when i thought of the “if i’m standing anyway why not try?” idea. problem was i had forgotten how to daven. so i retaught myself slowly reading every word. at first i only said the first few lines of every tefillah, but i got the hang of it. haven’t faked since b”H
been faking it for over 2 years. so do most of my friends. and the people i watch and talk to during davening too. how many high schoolers actually DO daven shemoneh esrei? daven at all?