Yom Kippur with the Country's Smallest Reform Congregation

The Mattoon Jewish Community Center has the distinction of being, according to Reform Judiasm magazine, the smallest reform congregation in the country. A tiny item in the magazine caught the eye of a reporter from the Chicago Tribune (though nobody in our tiny congregation seemed to notice it), and a photographer came to photograph our service on Wednesday morning. I had no idea he was taking video, but now my shofar playing is documented for all the world to hear. The photographer wasn't planning to stay for the evening service (the shofar is only blown on Rosh Hashanah and at the very end of the last Yom Kippur service), but we thought it would be nice to have a photo of the shofar in action, so the shofar blowing was a staged shot. If I knew he was filming rather than taking a still picture, I would have played one of the appropriate motives.

On my Kol Nidre list for next year? Asking forgiveness for not warming up my lips for this (now) highly-public moment.

You can watch the video here.

There's going to be an article about us in Sunday's Saturday's Chicago Tribune.