This morning, in church, I found myself near tears during the choir's anthem. It was a setting of the blessing, "May the words of my mouth and the mediations of my heart be acceptable to you, my Rock and my Redeemer," in both English and Hebrew. The Hebrew (that I can only transliterate as "Yi yu l'ratzon") struck a deep chord in my memory.
Once being a part of a Jewish family (although not Jewish myself), I was a member of a Reform congregation in Baltimore that was graced with the presence of an exquisitely talented cantor named Melvin Luterman. I see, thanks to Google, that he is still around, still performing, though he no longer seems to be affiliated with a particular congregation. He was a classically trained singer who performed from time to time with the Baltimore symphony, and his renditions of the Reform liturgy were heartbreakingly beautiful. When our tenor soloist's voice soared this morning with the "Yi yu . . .," it was suddenly Luterman whom I heard, and my tears welled for the loss of that time, of the wife who brought me into her family.
The feeling passed, as these things do, but for a moment I had stepped through time's window.
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