A day of spiritual/cultural experiences

Today is the anniversary of the birth of the world, the Jewish New Year, also known as Rosh Hashannah.  I was fortunate enough to hitch a ride with a lovely young Worcester couple who were headed to the Birmingham Progressive Synagogue.  He's an Anglican Vicar, she's a Jew who sings in their High Holy Day choir.

The synagogue is in a very new building next to flats in the same construction style.  It's a common practice among synagogues to hire security at the High Holy Days when the congregation swells.  At our shul in Duluth, we hire a cop for the day.  It's a shame that security is such a significant issue during our holiest days, but that's just the way of the world.  The security system at the BPS seemed very efficient and did not involve any external personnel.  When I made the connection with the aforementioned couple,  Sarah told me I would need to contact the synagogue administrator to get my name on the list.  Attendees had to sign in to get entry and a prayerbook.  It was fairly simple and straightforward.  Similarly, we had to check in our prayerbooks when we left.  We also had to be buzzed out of the building.  It was a pretty swift system.

The congregation numbered a bit less than 300.  The rabbi (Dr. Margaret Jacobi) studied at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia with our Duluth Rabbi.  Like my rabbi back home, Rabbi Jacobi had a professional career before studying for the rabbinate.  Dr. Jacobi was a medical researcher with a Ph.D. in Physiology (our rabbi in Duluth was a Harvard trained lawyer before becoming a rabbi).  She's currently working on another Ph.D. focused on the last chapter of Talmud Sanhedrin.

The service structure and components were essentially the same as what we do in Duluth, but the tunes were all very different.  Unlike our shul, the BPS choir is heavy on sopranos, but my new Worcester friend is an alto with a nice voice.  The star of the choir is a professionally trained tenor with a gorgeous voice.  He was also the shofar blower.

For years, the shofar blower at our shul was an elderly man named Phil Myzel.  Phil took pride in holding the final blast--Tekiah G'dolah--for as long as he could.  I know for me, I was always concerned he would pass out right there on the bimah.  He came close at least once.

The one thing I REALLY missed was the repetition of Avinu Malkenu with the 13 attributes of mercy.  We heard Avinu Malkenu at BPS, but it was only once and for me, it just wasn't enough to bring on that wonderful mournful emotion that captures the spirit of repentance and teshuvah.

They had an Oneg after the service with sweet kosher wine, honey cake, apples and honey and then it was back to Worcester.

I treated myself to another cream tea at the Cathedral Cafe (I know, I know--bad idea), but it's a holiday, so I had a lovely 90 minutes to myself enjoying the fabulous cream tea and a book, and then it was on to the Cathedral for Evensong.  Evensong was lovely.  The choir featured young boys singing high soprano parts.   The sound was sublime.  The acoustics in the Cathedral were absolutely magnificent.

It felt a bit strange going from the Jewish rituals of the morning to the Anglican rituals of the afternoon, but it also felt like an appropriate way to continue the day.  The real capper though was a lesson in bell ringing in the Cathedral bell tower.

Following Evensong, I met up with four students from the program and we headed over to the entry point for the tower.  We met with a master bell ringer named Bernard who graciously took us under his wing.  We climbed the first 110 steps to the Teaching Centre.

Bernard giving Kaitlin instruction on bell-pulling technique.

The room is framed by dumbbells which simulate a real tower bell.  Quoting from the brochure:  "The flywheels are weighted with railway bedplates."  Students have the experience of pulling the bell without offending the ears of the community.

Our goal was to gradually pull the bell to the point where it was upside down (look at the top center of this photo)and at a balance point.  We had to learn a technique that involved pulling straight down with our fists right over left, gripping the rope, or "sallie", and regripping every time the rope came down so our hands were gradually coming to the bottom of the "tail".

Each of the students took a turn.

Kinsey preparing to "ring"

I was so moved by the time Bernard took to work with each of us. Both Bernard, and the ringing master Mark were so welcoming. They gave us a DVD of the bells and enthusiastically encouraged us to return.  It's very inspiring to be greeted by people who truly love what they're doing.

Another bellringer took us on a few extra adventures and offered some additional commentary.

The Cathedral Tower Clockworks

The Cathedral clock uses the Westminster chime as played by these cogs.  It's located in the Clock Room, which is where the Teaching Centre is as well.  

Once we had finished our ringing practice, it was time to go up another flight of stairs (125 steps) to the site of the actual bell pulls, the Ringing Room.  Before we watched the actual bellringing, we had the opportunity to climb up to the roof. before dark.  Although the stairway narrows considerably (a challenge for those of us who have claustrophobic tendencies), it is magical to ascend to the roof.

Even though the temperatures were a bit cool, none of us would have traded this opportunity for anything.

We went back down to the bellringing level to listen to what they call "ringing the changes"--differing ways of varying the ringing order.

When they took a break, they encouraged us to climb up to the actual belfry.  We were each handed headphones to protect our ears because they started to ring the bells just as we got in to the belfry itself.  What an amazing array!  The belfry contained all 12 bells plus two or three extras.  Watching the bells ring was a special treat we hadn't anticipated.  The smallest bell weighs half a ton; the largest bell weighs two and half tons.  The current set of bells was cast in 1928.  A  new set of bells will be delivered in October--which is a very exciting prospect.

One of our guides shared with me that the tower was actually a thriving community (he called it a "village") for the monks before King Henry VIII disbanded England's monasteries.  In the very tower we traversed last evening, there had been kitchens, a barber shop and monks' quarters. The monks went about their daily lives, attending to personal and communal needs without worshipers' awareness.

It was an incredible day.   We decided we want to hear the regular choir practice the next time we visit.