Him: What's the word for the guy who hands out the siddurim at the door?
Me: I don't think there is one in Yiddish or Hebrew.
Him: Greeter, maybe?
Me: Yeah. Or, maybe gabbai.
Him: No, Gabbai is the one up on the bimah and correcting everyone's Torah mistakes.
Me: I always thought so too, but apparently wikipedia disagrees.
Him: Oy, wiki.
Me: Maybe in recent times we've shoehorned the role of gabbai into that little spot on the bimah because congregations don't want to admit that they might employ their own members to do menial/custodial things. Instead, the people skills parts are delegated to "volunteers," and the actual maintenence to non-Jews, and often undocumented immigrants who speak little English and demand neither raises nor dignity. In that way, the congregation can pat itself on the back for employing someone worse off than they are, and simultaneously remind themselves that they're no longer greenhorns who do other people's scut work, or even their own.
Him: Whoa, you should put that on your blog.
Me: Are you kidding? It's bitter conjecture without any proof. It's one in the morning! I'm not making any sense!
Him: You could just put down what you've noticed, and let people draw their own conclusions.
Me: But I haven't even noticed that in my own experience - just sometimes, at other synagogues, maybe, but when I grew up, the gabbai was a much-beloved Italian Catholic named Bob who taught the rabbi Italian in exchange for some Yiddish lessons.
Him: So?
Me: It would make my readers quite annoyed, I think.
Him: So?
Me (thinking): You are such a rotten influence sometimes.
Him (in my imagination): I dare you.
Me: (still thinking): Argh
Him (still in my imagination): Hehehe, you can't argue with "so?"!
Me: Maybe. I'll think about it.
Him: You do that. Goodnight!
2 comments:
No, Bob was never the gabbai. Nor did he ever hand out siddurim. He was unequivocally the custodian. In our congregation, the cantor sometimes plays the role of gabbai. I believe the person handing out siddurim is the usher. Not sure if there's a Hebrew or Yiddish term for this, maybe because traditionally everyone would bring their own siddur and no one would have to show them where to sit!
Love,
YVLM
Not annoyed, but to be honest, I don't think I've ever actually been to a shul where someone handed out siddurim at the door. Oh wait, TBZ does it sometimes. But only sporadically.
Plus, it's rather hard for the gabbai to hand out siddurim when he/she (I almost put just "he" at first and then though, waaaait a minute, S, you are not in an Orthodox community anymore!) is up on the bimah following along with the Torah reading.
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