Thursday, September 18, 2021
At the Temple
Olin Johannassen
PREFACE: This is the first part in what is turning out to be a very long reflection. I hope you’ll enjoy a window into my world these past two weeks outside the walls of St. John’s.
As I write this, I am seated in the first pew, front of house, on the right side at Temple Israel Portsmouth (TIP), on State Street in beautiful downtown Portsmouth. I have come here to get set up in advance of the Kol Nidre service — part of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur. Before we continue, please know that the service hasn’t begun yet, and I am the only person here, and being the designated “tech guy,” I’m cool to be on my laptop. So I will assure you that I am not out of compliance!
Not long after I officially began my official tenure as Director of Technology Integration and Associate for Music and Youth at St. John’s, a fellow St. John’s parishioner, Kathryn Mulhearn, mentioned that she had passed my contact info on to Temple Israel, as they had asked her whether she knew someone who might be available to assist with technology and Zoom call management during the High Holidays at TIP. After a few days had passed I was contacted by two members of the High Holidays committee, and agreed to come meet with them at the Temple to discuss their request, and see whether I’d be a good fit for their needs. That was in late July.
Fast forward to today, and I have visited TIP for a total of five meetings, some to learn about their sound system and their Zoom system, and others to sit with Rabba Kaya Stern-Kaufman and review the order of service, to go over the various camera angles, and work through the extensive lists of cues that she had thoughtfully prepared for me so that I could follow the service and bring her vision to life. During one such meeting, last Monday just prior to Rosh Hashanah, the celebration of the Jewish New Year, I came to do a final walkthrough, only to find that the Zoom system wasn’t working! It took about four hours, all told, to get to the bottom of the issue, and luckily we were able to sort out the issues in time for an 8:00am call time on Tuesday morning.
I spent back-to-back mornings here last week, facilitating the in-house audio, and bringing those who can’t be here in person into the service by managing their camera, and at times highlighting (“spotlighting,” as Zoom calls it) an individual’s video and audio at home, translating that onto a large TV monitor in the front of the sanctuary at TIP. I was given my own yarmulke - sort of neat, it was given to TIP in honor of a young woman’s Bat Mitzvah, and even has her name embossed on the inside, a beautiful tribute to the memory of that special day that I now get to hold onto.
During the services, I followed along in the Mahzor (pronounced “Mahk-zore”), a Jewish prayer book dedicated in this case to the Rosh Hashanah liturgy, and spent nearly 4 hours each morning with my eyes darting back and forth between those transliterated Hebrew texts found in the Mahzor, the spreadsheet of cues prepared for me by Rabba Kaya, the iPad controlling the Zoom participants, the TV monitor, and another iPad which controlled the audio mixer. It sounds like a lot, because it is — but I got the hang of it, and things went very smoothly on both Tuesday and Wednesday last week.
When I was preparing for this role, I honestly didn’t expect to feel as drawn in, to feel as connected to this community, these people, their traditions, their rites, as I have become. Here on Friday, September 17, as I wrap up this first installment of my now-extended length reflection, I have participated in a total of 5 services. Last night, driving home after the final Yom Kippur service, I couldn’t get the melodies out of my head. The Kedushah, the Avinu Malkeinu, and so many more. Their singing has burrowed deep into my conscious in a really special way. Maybe it’s because I haven’t participated in a chanted liturgy since Lent, 2019…
Stay tuned for more. I have much more to say.