I checked the calendar, and immediately realized that the jury service time I had been assigned conflicted with the High Holidays (sort of a problem for a Cantor, don't you think?). I phoned the number on the summons, and a friendly woman informed me that I could reschedule my assigned time to a more convenient time. I also inquired if I could be transferred to the Van Nuys courthouse, which is closer to my house. Sorry, she said, that was not possible. Downtown LA it would remain.

The first day of jury duty required that I be present for the juror orientation beginning at 7:45am. Hmmm, to be downtown that early I would have to get up at... yikes, 5:15am!?! Well, being the type of person that would rather be early than be late, I got up and left the house by 6:00am. The trek into downtown was uneventful, and I arrived with plenty of time to spare.

I had a general idea of what to expect, because my friend and colleague Executive Director Kathie Rose had just come back from jury duty two days before my jury duty began. A court employee explained that whomever couldn't serve proceed across the street and explain their particular situation to a judge. Everyone else was ushered into the jury assembly room, where we watched a short video hosted by... Kelly Lange? That seemed odd. I rarely watch TV news, because I believe it is more about ratings and entertainment than about news. This was supposed to be the real thing, right?

Like all good jurors, I brought plenty of things to read. I was informed by many people to expect to wait around quite a bit. I can't remember the last time I read the entire L.A. Times cover to cover... literally. Same for the Wall Street Journal. Lunch break in the courthouse is an hour and a half, which gave me plenty of time to walk over to Little Tokyo and have lunch at my favorite sushi bar in downtown.

Finally, at 3:30pm, I was sent to a courtroom. There I waited, along with the 35 or so other prospective jurors, to be escorted into the courtroom. When we finally took our seats inside, at 4:15, the judge informed us that we wouldn't be starting until the following day, when the voir dire would take place. For those who don't know, voir dire is a process in which the attorneys on both sides interview the jurors. From this questioning, the lawyers attempt to remove jurors who may not be objective to their client.

Before he dismissed us, the judge spent a good half hour explaining that a) he shouldn't be sitting on this case, and that it had been transferred to him unwillingly, b) he couldn't wait to retire from the bench in 3 months and c) the major cause of court delays was in tardy jurors, so even though we didn't have to return the following day at 9am, he wanted us there at 8:30am.

I returned the following day at 8:30 (at least I got a little more sleep than day #1) and then waited around for another hour or so. The court clerk appeared in the hallway and told us to go back to the juror assembly room because the case had just been plead.

At the end of my second day, the attendant in the juror assembly room instructed us to report the following day to the County Courthouse. Two days already, and still not on a jury. I thought of the words from Hillel, one of the greatest sages in the Talmud, who said that "An impatient man is not fit to be a teacher." (Avot 2:5) These were words I would need to hear again and again over the course of the next two and a half weeks.

Day #3: Around 10:30 I was assigned to a courtroom. The judge immediately informed us that this trial would last approximately 13-15 days. At the appropriate time, I asked the judge to excuse me from this particular jury. I explained to the court that I was a Cantor and Educational Director of a synagogue and that regretfully I was unable to be away from my congregation for that long. The judge instructed me to speak to her and the lawyers at sidebar.

As soon as I walked over to the side of the bench, the judge told me that I was "with a sympathetic group" which I suppose was code for "we're all Jewish here!" And then it was like the rains came crashing down from the heavens; this lawyer belonged to this shul, and this other lawyer belonged to this other shul. The judge belonged to two shuls, but had once belonged to three shuls. One lawyer told me she didn't belong to a shul, and then told me she was married to a non-Jew. I felt like a priest at confessional. Anyway, back downstairs to the jury assembly room.

I suppose one of the most fascinating parts of serving on jury duty are the people I've met. There are people from all, and I mean all, walks of life. I met young and old, wealthy and poor, Jew and gentile, white, black, and everything in between. Most of the people are considerate of others, while a few are obnoxious. There was the man who snored so loudly while he waited to be picked for a jury that almost the entire jury assembly room was laughing out loud. One man asked me if I was finished with my L.A. Times, and then asked if he could borrow it. I said sure, and then he asked if he could also have the book and Wall Street Journal out of my briefcase. When I told him, "No, I haven't read them yet," he just snarled and walked away. I had compassion for the woman who informed me that her son had been a victim of a drive-by shooting 6 months earlier. There was the woman who was sitting next to me in a jury box who informed the defense lawyer during voir dire that she would consider "helping" the prosecution if she felt the perpetrator deserved to go to jail, even though the evidence didn't prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. And so on and so on...