Jumblings

I spent my first Shabbos at Yeshiva this past week. In fact, it was my first Shabbos in a Mesivta ever, because I dormed at home back in the day (when I was in Mesivta).
All in all, not too many complaints. The interesting thing that did happen was that I noticed a glaring omission in our sanctuary's floor plan. There was a distinct lack of a table in front of the Bima, and the Chazzen's Shtender was straight in front of the holy ark, as opposed to being on the left. Why are these things important? I didn't know why, so I opened up my trusty Shulchan Oruch and learned the applicable Halachos. Nothing. Not a cotton-picking word about proper synagogue layout.
Eventually the truth came out; the reason Shuls have this setup is in order to differentiate them from reform places of worship (who are they worshiping? No idea) which, at least when they started, tried to emulate churches as much as possible. "And now," as I said to Rabbi Chayim Friedman, our Rosh Yeshiva and fearless leader, "I understand why Misnagdim call us reform."
This morning I remedied the problem, and now the Yeshiva High School of the Twin Cities has joined the ranks of orthodox synagogues. Happy Happy Joy Joy.
And so, my dear friends, comrades, and other forms of life, this is it until next time... (Key the opening of Beethoven's fifth).