Personal Narrative: The Ambience Of Jewish Religion

The history of Jews in host cities often depict a story of success or of failure when it comes to relations between the Jews and the Christians in Europe. Historian Jonathan Elukin, author of Living Together, Living Apart, presents the integration as a success process with rare, and special cases, of failure. On the other side of the spectrum is historian Raymond P. Scheindlin. Scheindlin’s novel, A Short History of the Jewish People, presents many cases of integration between the Christians and Jews that led to massacres and brutal endings for the Jewish community. There are many monumental events that take place during the long span of time that oversees European Jewish history, and both historians study and evaluate the events, however, they do so through different lenses.

Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world. Jewish religious movements, sometimes referred to as denominations, can be looked at in terms of paradigm shifts in the Jewish Culture. Jewish denominations include different groups of Jews that have developed since the ancient times. In the United States, these denominations took the form of three large groups known as Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform. While each denomination keeps to certain core beliefs, there is diversity within the faith as a whole.

When I visited my first Jewish synagogue, I expected it to be very different. My previous experience with religious ceremonies was limited to a few visits to Baptist churches. The most surprising thing for me at this one was, oddly enough, its similarity to Christian services and rituals. I went into the religious visit expecting an enormous difference in the customs and perhaps even in the attitudes of the people attending the service. What I found instead was a religious ceremony very reminiscent of the Christian ones I’ve been to before.

The dynamic nature of Judaism offers a successful living religion as a result of its strongly withheld characteristics. Through essential characteristics such as central beliefs, sacred texts, writings, ethical teachings and rituals and ceremonies, Judaism offers a dynamic nature and liveable religion that connects an individual and society with its roots. The way this living religion advances and grows is because of its dynamic characteristics as a whole. Importantly, these characteristics combined form the true nature of the religion rather than separately.

Once death is pronounced, many Modern Americans begin preparing for the funeral. A blog on decorativeurns.com states that the actual funeral can take place between three to seven days after death (“When to Schedule”). Jewish traditions differ from Modern Americans at this point. Maurice

To become an effective counselor to Jewish Americans or any race or diverse population is to be aware of one’s thoughts and opinions concerning racism and racial advantage, as well increase knowledge of culture’s different from oneself (Hays & Erford, 2014). Jewish Americans are referred to those Caucasian individuals who have immigrated to the United States from another country, such as Eastern Europe (Hays and Erford, 2014). In this paper, I will identify and provide a description of the Jewish population and how they differ from myself in a variety of ways. Additionally, I will provide a reflection of my immersion into the Jewish culture via my observations and highlight what I have learned

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.

On March 11th, I went to the Touro Synagogue for my religious visit, which is located at 4238 St. Charles Avenue. The Touro Synagogue is a part of the Judaism religious affiliation. The Judaism religious group practice their religion on the Sabbath day, which meant that they service I attended was on Saturday at 10:30. The Touro synagogue is a more reform synagogue. When first arriving at the Synagogue I was nervous and scared about not being received by everyone. Also, I think I acted off these feeling because I thought I would feel out of place because of my race; however, while I was standing outside I evaluate that I was just using race as an excuse not to try to try something new. After I was able to confront my fears, I turned around and became even more nervous when I realized that it was a

I have always been interested in learning about religion in conjunction with experiencing it. Growing up I was raised in a Christian home and learned very little about any other religion including other monotheistic religion. Judaism is the religion that I knew the least about and decided that the best possible way for me to learn more was to experience it. I had only ever heard of Judaism in a comical or historical way. I chose to go to a Synagogue to further my knowledge and experience Judaism first hand.

Human nature is an often debated topic. Some believe the natural state of humans to be good; some believe it evil. Catholic doctrine teaches original sin: the idea that all people are born bearing the primeval sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden. Jewish doctrine teaches differently: all humans are born without sin just as was created without sin. The second is certainly more appealing because it is far less damning of humankind. The Catholic belief teaches that humankind is born evil and is evil by nature and Jewish belief is that humans are what they make of themselves. Both traditions have similar origins and draw on much of the same scripture for their beliefs, though these traditions have a vastly opposing view on this fundamental point.

The Jewish funeral and burial follows practices which last for twenty-four to forty-eight hours. The family and friends gather to honor the departed individual. In the funeral, no flowers are allowed as it offset the smell of the decaying body. The donation is given to the charity under the name the deceased person. The body of the deceased can be wrapped in a shroud to ensure that the body and the casket decay at the same time.

I learned a lot of facts about Judaism that I had previously been ignorant to. I had no idea that we (Christians & Jews) maintained the same bible (The Old Testament) but that we interpreted certain events differently, such as Adam and Eve. “In Judaism, each and every human being is free to choose good or evil because each person stands before God in the same relationship that Adam and Eve did” (Esposito 77). I was unaware that Judaism did not believe in “original sin.” I had no knowledge of the fact that Jews did not believe that Christ was resurrected from the dead. I found it interesting how Jews have split into separate groups – Reform Jews, who believe that Judaism is a cultural inheritance and that neither the laws nor beliefs are

I believe the Jews where looking for a very particular person who met all of the visions they had taught, and passed down over the years. Many Jews then and some even today don’t believe that Jesus is the messiah and they are still awaiting his arrival. Those of us who believe and have faith though the word of God however know that Jesus was born of virgin, and sent to die on Calvary for all of our sins. So that one day we may spend entirety with the father in

They were hopeful at the beginning. They thought Hitler will not be able to harm them. When the Fascist party had seized, they thought it is only a change of ministry. After the german soldiers came in to Sighet. They were still smiling because of the charming officer seemed nice to them. But they smile with a little panic. Then, they were in the ghettos, they though it was just a small Jewish republic. Moreover, after the first group of deportees left, they became really

Funeral customs vary according to the religion, culture, and ethnicity. Religion is the foremost thing that plays an important role in a funeral event. From a cultural perspective when a person dies they must be buried with two weeks in the Nigerian culture. This is because it allows the family to heal faster and get over their loved one and also move into the next chapter. Well, here I am going to describe my experience and observation of attending a funeral of my friend’s aunt.