Did Ya Hear the One About the Hagbah Who Sued the Gabbai?

This just in: a Tennessee man is suing his church for $2.5 million, claiming that someone should have been there to catch him when he fell backwards in religious ecstasy:

(Matthew) Lincoln alleges that Lakewind (Church) and its pastors were “negligent in not supervising the catchers to be sure that they stood behind the person being prayed for…should they have a dizzying, fainting, or falling in the spirit as had occurred on many occasions before.”

I’m thinking there’s a fascinating dissertation to be written about the connection between fervently religious and American litigious…

2 Responses to “Did Ya Hear the One About the Hagbah Who Sued the Gabbai?”


  1. 1 Shirley Gould June 15, 2008 at 4:48 pm

    I’m thinking that my rabbi thinks a lot about writing a dissertation, and I’m waiting to hear that he has begun.

  2. 2 Sam Rackham June 20, 2008 at 4:03 pm

    Well, the Singing Men always caught the folks who were “slain in the spirit” by Ernest Angely. ;-)


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Welcome to "Shalom Rav," a collection of posts that have nothing much in common other than my desire to share them with you.

While some of my posts are related to my day job (I serve as Rabbi of Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, IL), the opinions I express here are mine alone and do not reflect official stands of my congregation or any organization with which I'm affiliated.

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