Unanticipated consequences of egalitarianism: Elf has problems keeping her tallit on.
Talking of which, I also went to my local egalitarian minyan this Shabbat. I'd intended checking it out since my experience in my cousin's Masorati shul a few weeks ago, but this was the first chance I had.
Unlike at my cousin's Bar-Mitzvah, this time I actually sat next to my husband, which was a wonderful experience: a few hours of spiritual time spent together. Yet again, I also really appreciated the women's participation (this time, women led mussaf) and appreciated sitting in the middle of the 'action,' part of the community, rather on the sidelines. On the downside, I found the leyning extremely amateur. It was shared between seven people and every single person struggled; it was actually painful to sit through, and reinforced what I concluded last time: "Masorti and the non-Orthodox movements except in very rare instances have yet to show that they’ve achieved the intensity of Jewish involvement and Jewish knowledge of the Orthodox community. The Orthodox community, on the other hand, have the intensity, but can be infuriating in their social and ideological stances."
So while I think I'll appreciate having this minyan next door as an occasional change, I don't think it will be my new spiritual home. The search (which isn't really terribly active) continues...
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