Personal Narrative: My First Jewish Service

When I think of one event in my eighteen years of living that transitioned me, to the Adult I am today, the Date was December 3, 2011. A Bat Mitzvah may not be a physical change, but it will be internal. It is a spiritual maturity and that is exactly what I felt. I remember that day like it was yesterday, yet my Bat Mitzvah was five years ago.

To begin, I was nervous about attending a service for a faith to which I did not belong and which was not even part of

To say my faith life has been completely revamped in the last year would be an understatement. I had views and ideas about faith that seem somewhat vile to me know with the experiences I’ve had. From just lectures to the retreats my spiritual side has gone from that of a holiday catholic to a Campus Ministry Student. From little things to big ethic topics I’ve changed in a multitude of ways, my Spiritual Autobiography looks like looks like someone else wrote it compared to any year before it. I think faith is one of the most important aspects of our life and it took me until last year to realize it.

Church, temple, sanctuary, or the Lords’s house, these are just a few names that your average person might call the place you come to worship God, I have always called it home. The Church I have been attending, Memorial Baptist Church, which is also where I attend high school, I have been attending since I was the age of three years old. Moving to the area that my family lives in now, I do not believe is any accident. At the age of two years old, my father was stationed in Tennessee for the military. After passing away from brain cancer, my Mother moved my two older sisters and me to Killeen Texas, to be closer to her family. Memorial Baptist Church was the only church we have ever been members of since moving to Texas, it has always felt like

Today, I went on a guided tour of the Lloyd Street Synagogue. This synagogue was the first synagogue built in Maryland by the Hebrews in 1845. It is also, the third-oldest synagogue remaining in the country. The Greek Revival style building was designed by architect Robert Cray Long, Jr. In 1861, due the Synagogue had to be expanded by architect William H. Resin due to the growing number of members needing additional space. The original interior and exterior décor was not affected. The building is pink in color. The outside did not have any visible Jewish symbols so the building did not appear as a Jewish structure and was less distinctive. The star of David, the ten commandments, nor Hebrew saying adorned the exterior of the building as it does today.

It was a beautiful summer day at church. I was just 12 years old when I heard his voice. I heard him before I saw his face. This was the day that I met someone who has changed my life.

What is the Great Tradition, and what two key elements make up this tradition within the different groups; is there any resemblance or inequality as to one’s religious preference. So, what is the Great Tradition, “it refers to the sectors of culture that are codified or systematized by a literate elite” (Scupin, 2012. Pg. 158). Therefore, stating that Judaism is a religion that is controlled through others powerful sphere’s, while applying the ultimate decisions as to how they will enforce obedience; through their administrator’s religious ways. “In Judaism, the Great Tradition includes a body of sacred texts, prayers, liturgy, rituals, and a cycle of holy day observances determined by a lunar calendar” (Scupin, 2012, pg. 158). In addition,

Today was a boring and very uncomfortable day for me. Everyone know my last day here at Grace Christian Center is tomorrow so everyone is telling me that they’re sorry that I’m leaving. I’m not sure if its true or not , but its nice to hear. When I walked through the doors of GCC I went straight back to my seat and started cleaning out my desk. I don’t have much in there but I want to make sure that I leave it in better shape than when I got it. Just because I’m leaving doesn’t mean that I have to leave my work area cluttered. After cleaning up my area I decided that I was going to go downstairs to eat lunch with the rest of the staff member, which was odd because that’s something that I normally run away from. Me and the staff ate

If I were to start my own Faith Community Practice I would first plan to sign up for EMU's online Faith Community Nursing Course in order to fully understand what an FCN is and how best to go about establishing my own practice. After completing the course, spend however much time I needed to figure out how exactly I want to run my practice. After figuring out a baseline plan, I would go about facing my other challenges. One challenge that I would most likely face is where to set up my practice. I would most likely want to start my practice in service to my home church at Lindale Mennonite Church. I don't believe we have an FCN practice there and I think it would an amazing opportunity to serve my home church in that manner if they allow. My

If I were to start my own Faith Community Practice I would first plan to sign up for EMU's online Faith Community Nursing Course in order to fully understand what an FCN is and how best to go about establishing my own practice. After completing the course, I would spend however much time I needed to figure out how exactly I want to run my practice. After figuring out a baseline plan, I would go about facing my other challenges. One challenge that I would most likely face is where to set up my practice. I would most likely want to start my practice in service to my home church at Lindale Mennonite Church. I don't believe we have an FCN practice there and I think it would be an amazing opportunity to serve my home church in that manner if they

On the first evening of service, I was prepared, yet scared that I would say something wrong or the children there would

I was in the Buchenwald camp when I heard about the defeat of the German Army at the Stalingrad. I was excited, and wished that I had witnessed the defeat in person so that I can laugh at the German soldiers. However, my imaginary laughter was halted when one of the guards hit the floor with a bat thrice, which means labor time. My role in the camp was to wake up before sunrise, work the entire day and starve. The camp is the most dreadful place I have ever encountered. Yet, this may not be true for the SS guards, who can visit the zoo or the brothel in the camp anytime they desire (Bergen “Chapter 7”). Fortunately, I was blessed with my skills I acquired in the Volkswagen, for it assigned me into one of the workshops that build war supplies for Germany. The starvation in the camp is intense, for a chunk of bread

A new day began, with a old same circumstances and today in the morning the first question came in my mind was. Being A Jewish is a sin? I literally wanted to cry at that moment when Judy came upto me and told me about what she heard from the commandos of Nazis party. Even right now I’m gazing through outside the window and all I see how my religion, my faith, my identity and my belief is today is being persecuted with hateful words, escalated to discrimination and dehumanization, and culminated in genocide. Judy told me was being forced into slave labor, and murdered, and to be honest even me I’m being horrific. I literally want to go and stand up for all of my ethnic group because I remember how aunty Rabia and all Jewish people does exceptional

One time when our synagogue was exploring a market, there was this area that our rabbi told us not to go into without adult supervision. But me and my sister being who we are decided that it would be a good idea to visit the other section because it looked more interesting than the part we were currently in. It was really strange how suddenly the market changed from safe to dangerous, it felt as if there were a line on the ground and crossing it was like crossing into another world. It was like one world was covered in light and the other in darkness. The booths didn’t look as inviting, and the people working there looked at my sister and I in a less than pleasant manner. I was ready to turn around and run back to safety, but my sister wanted

Interviewing several pastors can be eye opening in that you will begin to see different character qualities, disciplines and where they are in their spiritual journey. My intention was to interview several pastors, however, I was unable to obtain the responses needed to complete a study such as that. I did get to meet with one pastor, and I believe that it was truly difficult for him to answer most of the questions even after giving him some time to think about each question. My interview was with a very intelligent and spiritual man named Les Harvey. He is currently serving at the Church of the Highlands Greystone campus under many great leaders.