Va'anachnu Koreim

There's an old joke that goes like this-

Seudah Shlishit, Aleinu, and the mamzer all go to God with complaints.  Seudah Shlishit goes first.  "God, I'm just as important as any other Shabbat meal, yet no one really cares about me.  They're all looking to the end of Shabbat, and their plans for the week."  Aleinu follows.  "God, I have the same problem.  I am an important prayer, yet no one cares.  They're all taking off their tallitot and thinking about kiddush."  The Mamzer finishes.  "God, what about me?  It wasn't even my sin.  I did nothing wrong.  Why should I be punished?"  God thinks for a moment and replies.  "Seudah Shlishit, don't worry.  You may not be a big meal, but the most poignant songs will be sung during your time.  The Jews will actually lament the ending of Shabbat.  Aleinu, you will be placed in the High Holiday repetition, and will have a tune that strikes the heart of the Jew.  And to the mamzer God says, 'You, you will be the president of the synagogue.'"

It's an unfair joke, and I have had the pleasure and honor of knowing many good people who gave of themselves fully to be the synagogue president, but it does make a point about Aleinu.  At the Yamim Noraim, the Days of AWE, Aleinu takes it's original place in the heart of the musaf repetition.  It's tune is m'sinai, meaning it either came for Sinai with the Torah, or is so old that it seems as if it has been carried in the Jewish heart that long.  It is a deserved reputation, but Aleinu here means so much more.

Va'anachnu koreim umishtachavim umodim, but we bow, and worship, and thank...


During the year we bend our knees and bow at these words.  On the Yamim Noraim the hazzan (and others, including me) falls to his/her knees then bows his/her head to the floor.  It is a humbling experience.  Aleinu, it is upon us, lshabeach l'Adon hakol, to praise the Lord of everything.  Here we stand three days a year and act that out before the supreme God.  It is more than words, more than tunes we sing.  On these three days we worship with our full bodies, humbling ourselves before God.


Humbling, only through falling koreim have I begun to understand this word.  Standing in a room with hundreds of others, caring not for how I look, but falling to the ground before God- Va'anachnu koreim umishtachavim, but we bow, and worship... it is an experience I cannot describe but with this one word- humbling, umodim, and thank- and I thank God for the experience of it.