[Avodah] changing tune in lecha dodi

[Daas Books]

> I have davened with a Yeminite minyan quite a few times and they ALL of
> Kabbalot Shabbat. But it is the same same for all the Tehillim and for all
> of Lecha Dodi. Nice tune, I really like it.

Between you and me, I never understood why any shul would not sing part or
all of K. Shabbat. For the committed few, the stoic davvening works, but
consider this email I received 2 weeks ago:

"My friend and I are baalot teshuva who were searching for a meaningful book
on prayer. The book .... opened our eyes to the spiritual potential of our
Judaism - the very spirituality that had pulled us into the fold, but gotten
lost on ritual and rote."

In other words, what works for old-timers is not always working for
new-timers. Many kids can be kept "in the fold" if they are given the
"feeling" of simchas tefila, simchas Shabbos, etc. Music (and dancing) can
do this like nothing else.

Alexander Seinfeld