This weekend I led my last Shabbat service for a while. The first half of Jeff's sabbatical ends later this week; I won't lead services again until the second half of his sabbatical begins in late June.

It was a good service. I played around a little bit with pesukei d'zimrah, adding a few things I don't usually do, just for the fun of it. I offered some of the little explanations I like best -- I prefaced baruch she'amar (the blessing praising God Who speaks worlds into being) with the reminder that our words, too, can create worlds, and that we should be mindful of the words we speak this Shabbat. And before the ashrei, I offered one of Rav Kook's teachings (drawn from the Talmud) about saying it three times a day.

We didn't have a minyan, but we had a good discussion of the first Torah portion in Leviticus anyway. People had interesting things to say about the system of sacrifices and how it might, or might not, relate to the worship we offer today. As discussion-starters I offered Sacrifices and Passover by Richard Spitz, and an excerpt from Where Does the Spirit of Sacrifice Take Us? by Rabbi Jeffrey Schein.

We sang the closing song with gusto, as always, and as we were heading into the social hall for kiddush the rabbi shook my hand and quietly said "yasher koach" -- literally it means "may your strength be firm," but colloquially it means "good job." That made me feel really good.

Funny how quickly routine becomes familiar. In only two months I've developed a rhythm of opening up the shul, and closing it up again. I unlock the door, turn off the alarm, ready the sanctuary. Then the service; I almost don't need my bright orange post-it notes anymore, reminding me which prayers to start low and which to sing high. Then, after the service and the kiddush when everyone's gone, I do the synagogue-opening process in reverse. It felt a little bit strange to move through that checklist for the last time this spring. I'm definitely looking forward to my rabbi's return, but I'll miss leading services. I'm glad I get to do it again later in the year.

Technorati tags: religion, Judaism, Shabbat.