Birchas HaChamah and the WQ

This Wednesday morning, our shul, like many others, will be hosting a Vasikin minyan following which there will be a short siyum for the bechorim and a collective trek to a nearby harbor where the chevrah will say Birchas haChamah together.

I have much to say on this on many levels.

First, this is more or less how I feel about the whole Birchas HaChamah spectacle. While I do fargin the oilam their expression of their sense of community, I don't really get all the fuss. As Ben Chorin suggests, this celebration reflects a consumer society with too much time on its hands. I've refused to buy any of the fifteen books that have been published (or even to read the articles in Mishpacha and oher magazines) because I have a hard enough time setting aside time to review the Haggadah and I don't have time for distractions. But, whatever.

The immediate issue I am struggling with is whether to join my kehilah at the "show" or just daven early (as I always do) and say the bracha on my own, with no fanfare. On the one hand, it is my kehilah and my Rebbe so I feel a certain attachment. On the other, there is no telling what manner of weirdo this is likely to attract. Anyone with a car and the will to get up early can come and, like all other non-Shabbos related events (especially those that are free) hosted by the shul, likely will. (Mitigating against a big turnout is the fact that, in my experience, there is a very high freakiness-lateness correlation so I question whether the real high-WQ chevrah will make it to a vasikin minyan).

I guess it comes down to this: Do I want to join the kehilah for the potential entertainment value or do I want a moment of personal introspection where I can think about the cycle of Jewish life, the flow of the years, the abundant brachas that G-d has granted me and my family and contemplate whether I will be zoche to be around for the next Birchas Hachamah (when I would be 82)? Don't expect to see me there.