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Thursday, May 31, 2007

Sacrifices

Have a look at this clip and try to guess what Ehud Olmert would rather be doing right now. For those of you who don’t understand the Hebrew, this is the day after the Winograd report, which basically called him a complete and utter failure for his handling of the Second Lebanon War. He is at a press conference and he is falling asleep! They keep passing him notes. The question is – what was written on those notes? Did it just say ‘wake up boss! – your future is on the line and the cameras are watching’

I think it was a message from Bill Gates saying ‘where do you want to go today?’ Or perhaps it was from George W Bush saying ‘come and get me ready or not’ (and that was why Olmert had been shutting his eyes until then). Or perhaps it was just a question – ‘what would you rather be doing?’

Which led me to the question – what would I rather be doing right now. And the answer is clear. I would rather be jammin’.
I love listening to music. I love playing guitar. I love playing guitar while listening to music. Yet one day every week I have to give up both listening to music and playing guitar. OK, I can cope with that, everyone needs a rest every once in a while (and by that I am referring primarily to the neighbours who have to put up with me). But then the 3 weeks come along – no more music! 3 whole weeks!!! That’s a long time! I can still cope with that. Fair enough. Tragedies, community, Napoleon story, etc.
But what is with sefirat haomer? The Shulchan Aruch is quite clear that it is forbidden to get married or have a haircut during this time (whatever your minhag, whichever time we are talking about). IT DOESN’T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT NOT LISTENING TO MUSIC (or playing music, or buying clothes for that matter). From this has developed the minhag of not listening to live music. Live music is pretty much the same as recorded music, so that is out too. And practicing music and playing to relax – well there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but let’s not do it anyway.
Do you know what withdrawal symptoms I have? If you see me walking around playing air guitar you will know why. And on Lag B’Omer – forget about the bonfires and the archery. Forget about Meron and Shimon bar Yochai. Just give me my guitar and my record player (ah for the good old days. Now it has to be a cd player, and even that is only just acceptable in the modern world – what should I do with several hundred vinyl records?) and tell everyone else to go away for the day. Rock ‘n’ Roll!
What would I rather be doing? I asked my son Mo (Moshe Pesach) to act as stunt double for me and play the tennis raquet. This is what happened (although my 2 year old daughter contributed to the soundtrack a bit)

Mo playing the raquet (and me playing the guitar)

So that’s what I’d rather be doing. And if you are passing by my home on Sunday, make sure you wear ear plugs!

Rabbi David Sedley