The Beholder’s Eye by Doug Brook
Parched pigskin For 18 years, I’ve tried to educate Californians about real college reading as worshippers at most services. football. To wit, that anyone born in the state of Alabama must inTorah Readers come equipped with about 25 trope-based melodies stantly declare allegiance to Alabama or A*burn, or they get shoved at their disposal, roughly the same number of different plays most back in because they’re obviously not done cooking yet. football teams run in a game. In recent years, I’ve addended that occasionally one With the advent of the triennial system, the world of will choose UAB or Troy, but they’re usually kept for a Torah reading has incorporated the read option. few weeks of observation in the NICU. There are many The Torah reader is essentially the player on the field I recently observed that the only thing I find more with the ball, though in this case it’s more likely to be a similarities difficult to explain than real college football is the desheepskin than a pigskin. between college tails of Torah reading. However, there are more people involved in Torah Therefore, it seemed like a logical first step might reading than just the Yad-carrier. football and be to explain Torah reading in the context of college The Gabbai — who stands alongside the podium, reading Torah football. calling people up and correcting the reading — is esAfter all, college football and the reading of the Tosentially the referee. Thanks to one traditional tallis rah combine to be central to most people’s Saturday prayers. design, many Gabbais even wear black and white stripes while officiatThe parallels are endless. Big Torah readings are tougher to tackle. ing. Torah readers often fumble while trying to carry through that extra By virtue of their role as correctors, Gabbais can call for instant reyard. plays whenever they feel a mistake was made. Most spectators prefer a Torah reading that is fast-paced. Roughly Continued on previous page the same percentage of fans at a football game understand the Torah
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December 2013
Southern Jewish Life