Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Your Mother Doesn't Live Here......

... kindly "clean up"accordingly.

You might not guess from the title of this post, but it is NOT about our homes... it is about SHUL.

It is surprising how many people who need to revitalize their arba minim over Succos, think nothing of leaving the detritus of their lulav's previous life scattered about shul. Dead haddassim. Woefully overshaken arovos. Just left for garbage where ever they were removed. Is this kovod beis hakneses? Am I expecting too much? Does your wife follow you around with a garbage bag at home?

Don't get me started on residents and guests alike who borrow seforim, siddurim and machzorim from the back of shul and when davening is over, just leave them at the seats. You're passing the book shelves on your way out any way, IS IT SO MUCH TO ASK TO RETURN THINGS TO THEIR RIGHTFUL PLACE??! Am I the only one, who when travelling out of town for Shabbos or Yom Tov still returns seforim to where I got them? Is this also becoming passe? "Go with the changes... Lighten up".
Must I?

10 comments:

BLD said...

Its a Mess-Mitzvah

G6 said...

OK, BLD....
for the first time in a long time - - - you made me laugh ;)

WAdsworth3 said...

...and that is *before* the Simchas Torah candy comes out.

Litvak said...

Right on!

I wouldn't be surprised if some of these same offenders also litter elsewhere, e.g. throw garbage like empty soda cans, bags, etc., out of their cars when they are finished eating in them.

Chillul Hashem and improper.

Anonymous said...

Hear, hear!

itsagift said...

I agree with you one hundred percent. It bothers me to see when people don't put things back where they belong. We were always raised with that awareness-you don't own the world and you need to return things to their proper places.

I can't stand it when people litter. I was once walking down the street and saw a kid open up a candy and throw the wrapper on the floor when the public trash can was literally two feet away from him. In front of his face, without a word, I bent down, picked up his wrapper and threw it in the garbage. I hoped he got the message. I've done it a few times when I saw kids throwing their wrappers on the floor. Sometimes I'm even brave enough to say something too. Kids need to learn it somehow!

G6 said...

itsagift -
I have this "thing" about kids who don't hang up their coats in shul, even when there are plenty of hangars available. They insist on throwing their coats over the stairway bannister.
What do I do?
I HANG THEM UP?
I love to watch the panicked kids thinking somebody "stole" their coat, because it's where it should be, until they find them on the racks!!!
{evil grin}

itsagift said...

G6-I like that!

Reminds me of when I leave the grocery store. I don't understand why the shopping carts are left in such a mess so...I'll straighten them all out. It takes a few extra minutes but if each person would just put their own cart back, the stores would look so much neater!

YW said...

Maybe you could help me out, I always wondered why there is no coat rack in schul for the men? Where are we suppose to put our soaking wet rain coats?

Avram said...

YW-

A very good and valid question. From what I was told, when the shul was built they had the opportunity to acquire the property all the way out to Broadway (where the current medical building and parking lot is now). Being very conservative the people in charge at the time felt that purchasing that extra property would be more than they could afford and limited the building to what we know today as our bais haknesses and elementary school building. Had they purchased the entire property there would have been plenty of room to build a large vestibule with space for a coat room and even restrooms. When I was young there were fixed coat racks downstairs where everyone was encouraged to hang their coats. For the most part this worked quite well except for some of the older people for whom it was difficult to walk the stairs and therefore put their coats on the seats in the back row of shul. Eventually the area where the coat racks were located was closed off and made into storage space for the kehilla office. People then had no choice but to leave their coats upstairs on the seats. As by that time the shul was emptier people were able to find enough empty seats in closer proximity to their own seats so they just put their coats near them.

A number of suggestions have been made over the last few years to section off a part of the back of shul and make it into a coat room. However, the rabbinate has determined that doing so would diminish the level of kedusha of that area and therefore did not permit this to be done.

I, personally, have not been able to get used to leaving my coat on the seat next to me in shul and therefore have taken to putting my coat in the shiur room. A number people have been doing this as well. The rav was even asked at one point if we could put a coat rack in the shiur room, but he said that we couldn’t.

So, in a nut shell, you can put your coat on the empty seat near yours or in the shiur room. Of course there are always some people (probably the same ones who don’t put away their seforim) who actually have the nerve to leave their coats on the window sills or even hang them on the windows. These usually don’t last too long as I am quite vigilant (and there are others like me) at removing these coats and put them on a nearby seat.