RITUAL LIFE
Gabbaim at Beth El: The Guardians of the Prayer Service For a list of the current Gabbaim schedule, click here. While the role of the Gabbai (literally, collector) has changed through Jewish history, the two constants of the position are: 1) The role of Gabbai entails respect and responsibility; and, Originally, the Gabbai was a “Gabbai Tzedakah, a “Tzedakah Collector.” Gabbai soon became the title of one who not only collected but disbursed tzedakah funds. Gabbai became a generic title for a Synagogue official, administrator of funds, or, treasurer. Gabbai became the title of a lay leader of Jewish associations such as Hevre Kadishe (Burial Society), visiting the sick (Bikkur Holim) society, etc. Some large societies had 12 Gabbaim - one for each month. The role of disbursing charitable funds grew into the common modern role of disbursing honors/alliyot to the congregation. As you can see, the Gabbai has always stood at the intersection of concern for the individual and concern for larger communal needs, of need and want (in terms of Tzedakah), of honor and oversight (in terms of the disbursement of alliyot/Synagogue honors). The Gabbai risks him/herself, in some ways, for the sake of the smooth operation of the community. Our community owes its Gabbaim a great deal. In the prayer life of the Beth El community, one Gabbai each Shabbat and holiday recruits and organizes the prayer leaders for that day. That Gabbai selects a second Gabbai to aid in the intense work of closely following the Torah reading in order to “collect and correct errors in the public reading. The Gabbai orchestrates all of the alliyot for the day, always searching out the new face, the one who has recovered from an illness, returned from a trip, the one who is celebrating a happy milestone or is observing the anniversary of a death. The Gabbaim (plural) are the unnoticed heroes of the public prayer service to whom our community owes a great deal. |
