PROBLEMS!
First of all, Rabbi Schonfeld totally failed to signal with her body or voice that her Benediction was in content or intent any different from any of the other speeches given at the DNC.
You must center yourself. It can take literally two seconds, but don’t ever just motor on up to the mic and start declaiming. I don’t care what the organizers tell you. They will tell you to hurry, rush, just go out there and blare it! Give them the withering stare of icy death and smile nicely while your eyes remain daggers that say, “Do not tell me, one of the few humans who is trained in the oratorical arts, how to do my job, honey.” Centering yourself can take as long as one breath. It can happen in a few blinks, in a soft inhalation. It is up to you to make that shift happen and make it happen fast. You’re a pro. You’re a race car on that track. Start your engines as you walk onstage and be ready to claim that space as soon as you hit your mark.
Rabbi Schonfeld did not hit her mark. She smashed into it and started talking.
This was not a Benediction. It was kind of a prayer/speech mash-up. A benediction is a sending forth, a blessing upon the community as they leave the sacred space and re-enter the world. These words did not accomplish that — or if they did, it didn’t come until far too late, because I frankly stopped listening. I can only tolerate so much flat-line hollering. Also? Politically? I did NOT appreciate the “this nation and our allies” line. It’s far too loaded coming from a rabbi, and I was like, “Oh, come awn, this is a shout-out to Israel, and this is not the time or place.”
Disagree with me if you want, but that’s where I’m at.
To whom was Rabbi Schonfeld speaking? She was verbally addressing God and “Dear God,” but she was making eye contact with the audience, who are presumably not God. If you’re praying, you’re not looking at people. If you’re offering a Benediction, you most certainly are. You begin with something like, “And now, as we go forth from this place renewed in spirit and bla bla bla, may God be with us and bla bla bla.” You are addressing the assembly and laying the God love and power on them as they go! You are not talking to God about how you hope God will do stuff and then looking at people.
I could do without the fist pounding the podium, which is a distinctly speech-like thing to do and does not in any way belong in a Benediction.
These civic occasions are definitely tricky, I’m not gonna lie to you, pigeons. But as you figure out how to navigate between Holy Cheerleader, Godly Mouthpiece, and Self-Differentiated Religious Leader, you absolutely need to know what your liturgical moment is and prepare your content and prepare your physicality from there. If you’re giving a Benediction and you don’t want to use the traditional “peace out” blessing gesture or the modified orans pose (I do not know what the Jewish gesture of parting blessing would be — readers?) you need to figure out something else that suggests sending forth but that you can maintain for as long as it takes to deliver your prepared words.
This does not mean that you must strike a pose, Madonna-style, and then hold it while sweat drips down your forehead and falls into your mouth, it means that you must decide on the general posture and work through appropriate shifts in that posture as you review your manuscript. I think we’re all wise enough to realize that one doesn’t ever deliver an extemporaneous Benediction when one is on national television participating in historic occasions. You prepare that content and then you prepare your gestures accordingly. Where will you look? What will you do with your arms? How do you intend to modulate your voice?
As for the rabbi’s image and attire, she is firmly locating herself in around 1989 from head to toe. Could have been worse, could have been much better. This is an incredibly important moment.
It has been very interesting, as a Jewish clergyperson (I am a cantor), to watch the benedictions over the past few nights. The idea of having this sort of a benediction – whether for a worship service or some type of event – is not traditional in Jewish practice (my Jewish colleagues will let me know if I am mistaken). We are likely to end a service with a closing song and the words “Shabbat shalom” (a Sabbath of peace), or other time-appropriate words for other times of the week and year, and conclude in that way. Some congregations choose to use the Priestly Blessing as a “benediction,” or end with a “charge” to the congregation. Sometimes these are combined. And so we have no real formula or stance to follow in the way that Christian clergy seem to. (We do often include benedictions at events such as annual meetings and the like, but to my understanding this is a borrowed custom).
There is also a difference in practice in terms of when a clergyperson might look at the people assembled. First, we do not bow our heads in prayer (there are some times in a worship service when we bow, but that is prayer choreography connected with specific points in the fixed liturgy). Second, it is very common in the liberal branches of Judaism to make eye-contact with members of the congregation during prayer (especially when it comes to singing, and much of the liturgy is sung). I would venture to say this is the norm within my community of Reform Jews. Partly this is to encourage participation, to help the congregation feel welcomed to raise their voices to pray together. Partly this is because of the idea that connecting with others helps us feel connected to God as well as the Jewish people (present and past). I think Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman says it best in “The Art of Public Prayer.” Just to set it up, in the previous paragraph he introduced Buber’s I/Thou theology and in this chapter is discussing worship music:
“Buber went even farther than acknowledging God’s immediate presence to us as a friend. He held also that God can be known even when we engage other people in the mutuality of being present to and for each other. Music of meeting, then, connects us horizontally with others. It is the way we know God’s presence among us because we are no longer alone, but intertwined with others around us.”
All this is to say that for me it wasn’t strange at all to see Rabbi Schonfeld looking at the audience while addressing God. The other thing is – and I don’t know at all if this was her intention – sometimes we interpret our prayers, which are addressed to God, as code for what we should be doing ourselves. For example, addressing “God of compassion” serves to remind us to be compassionate, for if we are created in the Divine image, we must strive to emulate the Divine. When in our daily worship we praise God for “lifting up the fallen” and “redeeming the oppressed,” we are on the one hand praising God and on the other hand reminding ourselves what we need to be doing to uphold our end of the partnership in “tikkun olam” (repairing the world).
I do agree with you that it was a jarring start and a centering breath would have helped. If it had been me – and it never would be – I would have walked up to the podium, looked around at the people assembled, and then begun speaking. I also favor a softer tone, but that is just reflective of my style in general rather than any expectations of a benediction.
I am sorry for such a long response but find it so interesting to compare expectations based on faith tradition. By the way, I think my favorite of the benedictions so far was Wednesday evening – though the reference to Jesus, while not unexpected, was uncomfortable. Suddenly a beautifully inclusive and ecumenical benediction no longer was.
Looking forward to hearing your reflections on the rest of the benedictions.
Very insightful, thank you so much!!
Actually, I haven’t been watching much of the convention by way of managing my nerves, but a couple of rabbis alerted me to this appearance (they were very disappointed in delivery, content and appearance) and asked me to view it, so I did.
What I wish ministers would remember about public prayer:
1) You are not God.
2) You do not need to tell God exactly what to do. It’s really fine to just ask for God’s help.
3) As eloquent as you might think you are, please remember that the language of Scripture runs somewhat deeper than the language of NPR or Fox News or technocracy. “Lord, let your face shine on us †is a resonant prayer. “Lord, help protect us from increased CO2 emissions and greenhouse gas; Lord, may we respect America’s small businesses by lowering their taxes; Lord, let us strive to achieve excellence as a team†is not.
4) You can talk in a normal voice. No shouting, no fake English accents.
5) If you can’t manage to pray for your enemies, please have the grace not to call down fire on their heads.
6) It never hurts to say “thank you.â€
Amen, Sara! Amen.