JiM's Dreams

It's the last night of the convention and it's been rocking. There was a big presentation to Debbie Friedman (who looks pretty sick now) of the Alexander M. Schindler Award for serious contributions to sacred music and making it accessible. Very nice. Then various musicians like Craig Taubman and Julie Silver and Beth Schaffer played her music - also very nice.

Then they presented a black Jewish gospel group. The audience was almost more fun to watch than the singers. Who were pretty kickin'. Half the audience had never heard Jewish gospel and like it just fine, todah rabbah! (Imagine "Hinei Ma Tov" sung to the tune of "When the Saints Go Marching In"). They were clapping and dancing and shouting and generally testifying. The other half were at their most white-Ashkenazic and looked as if they had been dipped in wax. Too funny.
The kids, of course, adored it. The 9 year old breakdancing to "Adon Olam" made the whole evening for me.

Home tomorrow evening and not a moment too soon. I miss the Husband and the Furry Objects and am just about done with the personality quirks and the vagaries of congregational work outside the congregation's walls. On the plus side, the (In)Discretion Fund has taken some worthwhile hits, including a superb gin and tonic and a really first-class fish luncheon at a restaurant hanging over the water on the most golden day I've seen in years.