Cloture Fails: Rabbi’s Sermon To Continue

At least six attendees attempted, in vain, to direct the Rabbi’s attention to the wall clock behind him.

Jerusalem, November 19 – Congregants groaned this morning when a vote to cut short the pre-Torah-reading discourse failed to garner the requisite two thirds of those in attendance, such that the already-too-long address will proceed as before, for a still-undetermined duration.

The cloture motion at Congregation Shirat HaYam resulted in a 15-8 outcome in favor of stopping Rabbi Gavriel Penstein’s sermon – not enough to achieve its aim, which would require sixteen votes in favor. Thus, to the dismay of most of those present, the Rabbi’s speech continues.

Attendees shifted in their seats for twenty-five minutes as Rabbi Penstein held forth at unusual length; according to congregant Aharon Siegel, his typical speech in this time slot, every two weeks, lasts somewhere between fifteen and twenty minutes, but many attendees already find it too long at the ten-minute mark. “This is excruciating,” he muttered, to rueful shakes of the head from those seated nearest him.

Congregants shared exasperated looks as the Rabbi’s sermon seemed to be winding down at about twelve minutes, only to see him pick up steam and resume discussing a thread he had introduced earlier but remained forgotten until then. The motion to invoke cloture occurred at about minute twenty-seven, amid progressively-less-furtive looks at watches and at least six attendees attempting, in vain, to direct the Rabbi’s attention to the wall clock behind him.

However, six of the voting congregants are members of the Rabbi’s family or have critical community ties to him or his office, a fact that poses a serious obstacle to any cloture motion. While eight children of other congregants voted in favor, their status as minors in both Jewish law – with a threshold of 13 years for boys – and synagogue bylaws rendering those voices irrelevant.

A similar episode occurred in the same synagogue three years ago, when a guest speaker misunderstood the guidelines for the speech delivered between the Friday evening Kabbalat Shabbat and Ma’ariv services. His instructions included a guideline not to exceed eight minutes, but he discovered only much later that his watch had stopped; attendees recalled his desperation increasing with each passing minute as he ran out of prepared material but struggled to fill his allotted time, which appeared, to him, not to be passing, while at the same time the congregation grew weary as his awkward address went past the twenty minute mark; people began to walk out and barely a quorum remained by the time Ma’ariv began.

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