Monday, September 21st, 2020

The office hallway smells, pleasantly, like burnt toast. I don’t know why. We are standing out here, waiting for ten of us to come together so we can start the afternoon prayers. Between the lockdown and the holidays, we think that we might not make it, but most of the regular people appear. Today’s prayer leader starts as usual. Soon, people are calling out corrections. The boss puts his hand on the prayer leader’s shoulder and announces “Gentlemen, we are in the Days of Atonement. There will be some differences in the prayers.” We continue. I get lost a few times. For convenience, I use a very small, easily held prayer book. It shows the texts that we should substitute this week, but it doesn’t show clearly what we should omit when we say them. Today is also a minor fast day. I think we should be adding even more texts, but people appear to be skipping them. At least I think that’s what’s happening. Most of this is within the silent prayer, but people often mumble sections of them audibly, especially when they aren’t what we usually say. The boss steps forward to stand next to the prayer leader. He leads the “Avinu Malkeinu” himself. Most of it is spoken, but the last line is sung. I’m surprised to hear my own voice ringing out above the others. I know the text well, and it’s a familiar melody -- the one recorded by Phish and Mogwai, rather the one that Streisand has sung. The service runs slightly longer than usual, with another psalm and another recitation of the Mourner’s Kaddish at the end. I go back to my desk, still humming the melody. I look forward to singing it again.