I have dear friends who are expecting a baby in September, right around Rosh Hashanah. This is excellent news! There's only one complication: he's the rabbi of my shul, and the Days of Awe are his busiest time of the year.

We hire a cantor to work alongside him during the Holidays, because our attendance jumps to about two hundred and the Festival services are long. Still, even with the cantor on-hand, things could get complicated; if his wife goes into labor during the holiday, he'll be in the hospital with her, not on the bimah (pulpit). And if they have a brand-new infant, or if they're on pins and needles waiting for a late baby to drop, he'll be on tenterhooks even if he's in shul.

So I offered to lend a hand in whatever way he needs. I like helping out with services; it's fun for me, and it challenges me; it keeps me involved and engaged.

His response? He wants me as backup shaliach tzibbur (services-leader) for Rosh Hashanah, both days. All four services (the first eve, the first day, the second eve, the second day). Which means I'd have some role in leading services, and might even give one of the sermons, even if he's there the whole time.

I am absurdly excited. And terrified. (It's one thing to lead services for the twenty regulars who show up on an average Shabbat; it's another thing to lead services when the synagogue is packed, when part of one's responsibility is to give people a sufficiently meaningful experience that they might want to return sometime.) And honored.

I mentioned this to my friend Emily this morning, who joked, "You're finally getting to run and play with the real rabbis!" Indeed.

I also just offered to read Torah in July, for the first time since I became bat mitzvah. I'll read one section of the portion, each of the two weeks when I'm leading services next month. (Plus, you know, lead services, and prepare the d'var Torah / discussion.) That in itself is a little exciting and a little scary; but somehow it seems entirely normal, compared with the fact that I've been given the opportunity to step up to the plate for Rosh Hashanah.