Some of you participated in our discussion this past Sunday with the two Baltimore rabbis, my cousin, Rabbi Gustav Buchdahl, and Rabbi Elissa Sachs-Kohen. I think it was most interesting and I hope they did too.

There’s an urban legend about my cousin. He used to arrive early to our home congregation every Shabbat morning. The clergy gave him the job of rolling the scroll to the Torah portion of the week. Now understand that the synagogue was one of the only ones at the time – maybe the only one – that had a walk-in Aron Kodesch, Holy Ark, and furthermore one could set the scroll down in order to roll it.

One day the doors somehow closed behind him and he couldn’t open the Ark. The service was about to begin. (Fruitful aside: you might have determined that my cousin was impish from his childhood until this very day) He decided to wait for the appropriate time. The rabbi and cantor would walk to the Ark for the Torah service in a very formal manner with majestic music.

Standing in front of the Ark, the rabbi would read, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be lifted up, ye everlasting doors that the King (sic!) of glory may come in. Who is the King of glory?” and just before the rabbi could continue with the answer, “The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of glory!…” there was a knock coming from inside the Ark. The rabbi and cantor looked at each other and opened the Ark. There he stood, holding the scroll then handing it to them. Let me tell you, if that had really happened in our German synagogue the clergy would NOT have had even a hint of a smile on their faces. It indeed was an urban legend spread throughout the congregation for years and at the Hebrew Union College as well while he was a student.

What did happen is that, yes, he got stuck in the Ark, but just before the service began his knocking summoned the custodian who let him out.

He did think about it though.