Dancing Before the Lord

The Feast so far is going swimmingly, but that isn't what I've come to write about. Actually, the other evening some of us girls (the bibleschool girls, a girl named Rachel, Jayne, Katie, and me) got together for a hoopla with the horah. For the deprived few that don't know what it is, it's a dance that is used among the Jews, and it involves holding hands and dancing in a circle. It has a very constant, quick rythm that you have to follow however, or you very well could get lost. Hop-hop-hop-hop-cross-step-cross-step-hop-hop-hop-hop-cross-step-cross-step and so on. So now I found myself gripping warm, sweaty fingers on either side of me and then rushing round and round and round in the constant pattern of the horah with fast-paced, boisterous music from Fiddler On the Roof pounding in our ears to lead us on and trying to not get off the beat. Every once in a while a foot would get tangled and then the laborious task would be found to get back in step once again, all the time never letting go of the hands on either side. If I had to, I would hold on to my neighbors' fingertips in a fierce pinch for fear of ever letting go, because when that happened, there would be difficulty in joining again and we might have to start all over again. Faster and faster we seemed to move, Israel skirts swishing simultaneously, rushing on and on until we got cramps and were each all hot and out of breath. Or until the music stopped.

We tried two circles, with three in the middle, and this provided new dangers to avoid colliding with each other. With many close calls, we refused to be dizzy, laughing now and then, but mostly breathing as one the constant steps of hop-hop and so on. Besides near collisions, the only other minor injuries received were when Katherine briefly sprained her ankle and I knocked my heel straight into a pole. We still enjoyed each minute to the last, however, and left feeling like we had gotten our exercise. What a wonderful way to rejoice and dance before the Lord!