Guitar Sitting Ominously In Corner At Synagogue Teen Leadership Seminar

The sight indicated they were in for an even more awkward time than the cringe they had anticipated.

Jerusalem, February 7 - Participants in a local house of worship's youth development program noted the sense of dread that overcame them upon seeing a six-stringed instrument leaning against the wall of the room where they gathered this afternoon, realizing that at least one of the facilitators of the event intended to play it in their presence, and, even worse, to engage their involvement, before the day was out, attendees recalled.

The eight teens who came to a side room at the Beit Ariel synagogue in the capital's Kiryat Moshe neighborhood voiced various levels of anxiety or doom when the sight of the guitar indicated to them that they were in for an even more awkward time than the cringe they had anticipated.

"Oh, God," breathed Shani Weisberg and Adi Cohen at the same time. The two sixteen-year-olds shared a look of horror and glanced around at the other members of the group, all of whom had the same look of horror on their faces.

A suppressed groan issued from fifteen-year-old Adva Schulman, while Eden Yosef merely gaped.

Both chose seats as close to the door as possible.

Maya Shirazi stopped short, looked at her phone, and pretended to scroll through it. "Uh, I might have to leave early," she announced to no one in particular. "We have a... thing today. I'll ask my mother to let me know." She typed furiously for a few minutes, trying to arrange a distress and extraction signal with a parent or older sibling, in case the guitar was indeed wielded.

The congregation's assistant rabbi, the owner of the instrument, appeared unaware of the impact the presence of his guitar had made on the participants. "Hello, everyone," he began. "I can see you're all a little bit distracted. I understand. It's been a tough few months for everyone. I know some of you have family members serving in Gaza. That can definitely be a huge source of anxiety."

"Still, I hope we can work on skills that will help us and the children," he continued, referring to the junior congregation and other activities that the participants will lead.

The rabbi's words failed to address the elephant/guitar in the room, and therefore failed to assuage the teens' sense of impending awfulness. "I thought maybe we could start by focusing on what we're trying to accomplish," he stated, leaning over toward the wall. "I've found that one of the most effective ways to come together around something is through song..."

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