[Avodah] Repetition in Davening

[Jonathan Baker]

(thread moving over from Areivim - probably more general interest)

From: Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org>
> On Sun, Feb 03, 2008 at 12:13:16AM -0500, Jonathan Baker wrote:

> : someone taking the Goldfarb tune for the last line of Aleinu as
> : evidence for the Trinity - ushmo ushmo ushmo echad.
 
> Ever since RJJB first pointed the oddity of ushemo x 3 to me (probably
> on scjm over a decade ago) I felt uncomfortable using the tune.
 
> So what do you do?

[RMi listed various solutions he has used]
 
As I may have noted at the time, I use a couple of solutions.  First off,
since it is a verse, albeit Navi not Torah, the repetition makes me a bit
uncomfortable too, but more because of changing the verse than trinitarian
implications.  After all, Goldfarb was an Orthodox rabbi as well as the 
major Chazzonus teacher in JTSA for half a century.  He presumably knew
the halacha as well as the chazzanic mesorah, so there can't be anything
"really" wrong with it.

One is to use the camp tune for (v)Al Ken, even if not for the whole para-
graph, at least picking up at Kakatuv Betorate-echa.

The other is to drag out the words that would otherwise be repeated: 
vene'emar, vehayah Adoshem, lemelech al col haaretz, bayom hahu-u-u-u-u,
yihyeh H echad, ushmoo,oooo,ooo echad.

Evidence against this: IIRC, Cantor Goffin has no problem repeating.
But sometimes you find yourself in a shul where the rabbi really does
mind, and makes a fuss about it, so it's best to know possible solutions.

As for what I do nowadays, in a shul where the rabbi doesn't make such
a point about it?  Waffle.  No standards.  Sometimes one thing, sometimes
the other, depending on my mood.  Just to show there are alternatives.
If our gabbai, a list-chaver, has a problem with this, I'm sure he'll
let me know.

--
        name: jon baker              web: http://www.panix.com/~jjbaker
     address: jjbaker at panix.com     blog: http://thanbook.blogspot.com