Where do I begin?
A bit of background - I am an American Oleh living in the merkaz area...
I grew up in a small midwestern town with a small Jewish Community and despite the fact that my family is technically Sephardi, we went to a Breuer's Satellite Shul. I guess that's where I picked up a taste for proper nusach...
When I talk about nusach I mean three things:
1. Getting phrasing and dikduk right
2. Singing the traditional nusach in the appropriate places (for example, not using Avot from Musaf on Shabbat for Mincha)
3. Picking appropriate melodies for non-nusachy sections of the tephilla.
Now I might be a nusach freak but I do take it with a grain of salt --- I recognize that a) God might not be listening anyway and if He is he'll understand our poor phrasing/dikduk anyway b) the nusach we have - while certainly incorporating very old elements - is largely modern and c) picking of melodies is a subjective and aesthetic issue.
Anyway, I'll be writing my random thoughts on nusach...
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1 comment:
The Rav had an idea that tunes are important during davening. For example, during the Yamim Noraim, we have a "visceral reaction" (to use my Rabbi's phrasing) to the tunes to which we are accustomed, which help get us in the proper mood.
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