The Jewish Temple I Happened To Visit Was Of The Conservative

The rabbi began the service fairly casually, greeting the congregation in English. After the English greeting came a more traditional greeting in Hebrew, and then a song to greet the Sabbath, or Shabbat, which is the word that was used at the synagogue. The Hebrew might have been strange to me, but there were English translations for just about everything in the prayer book, along with the prayers and songs written out in Hebrew. My personal favorite part of the service was the singing. There were two singers, one male and one female. All of the songs were beautiful, and caused me to consider the fact that many religions use songs and music in order to convey their messages. I believe that this is a good practice, because music is a common language, one that everybody can understand regardless of whether they speak Hebrew, or any other tongue. Although I’m

After this I went to church; and having never been at such a place before, I was again amazed at seeing and hearing the service. I asked all I could about it; and they gave me to understand it was worshipping God, who made us and all things. I was still at a great loss, and soon got into an endless field of inquiries, as well as I was able to speak and ask about things. (Equiano, 82)

On the rotating table there were open books and the men would turn the table and without any hesitation continued to sing. Around 9:30 is when the church began to fill up and that is when the Priest and two Bishops came out. The Priest wore his stole, which is like a long scarf, around his neck and hanging to the floor on either side of him. The Deacons wore their stole vestments across their body diagonally. There was also a group of 4 boys that helped on the Alter whom also wore robes and they would enter and exit through the Angel Doors also known as Deacon’s Doors. Each time they went through the doors they kissed the icon on the door. There were times when the church would stand and times when everyone in the church would sit and these motions were all dictated by the Priest that made gestures to the crowd.

At the front, there were three Rabbis; two male and one female. This was the first evident sign that this temple was reformed, on the grounds that in Orthodox and some Conservative Judaism, leadership by a female is not permitted. Each of the three rabbis wore the talit, and one of them was the Cantor. He played a guitar and sang a song and the style reminded me of the praise and worship songs we sing at my church. He continued singing as people found seats. The service started with some singing in Hebrew. The lighting of the candles for Shabbat occurred next along with the reading of a blessing. Some more readings and songs followed that. A decent amount of the service was in Hebrew, particularly the singing, however there were also times that English was also spoken. Since the books were in Hebrew, which reads from right to left, the books opened in reverse. This took some getting used to; however, there were English translations. The following segment of the service is what I describe as a parade of the Torah. The Torah,

One interesting concept that I learned was to stand the book straight up on the next available chair, instead of faced down or in any other position to accentuate the importance of the scriptures and prayers that the books consist of. The service started promptly at 9:00 pm in which the members of the Jewish Synagogue were already wearing a tallit, which is a prayer shawl that represents the six hundred and thirteen commandments, and silently prayer with a swaying motion incorporated. After asking the congregate that was aiding the observers throughout the service, he explained that Jews usually sway, rock, or shake because it is stated that the physical act is a way of connecting spiritually to God while praying along with other justifications within the Torah. My initial feelings regarding the acceptance of me as a visitor was kind of unsettling because I was the center of attention along with the two other observers. Some congregates would greet us warmly offering any help, while some others often discretely talked among their other fellow congregates about our attendance with some people staring for portions of the service. Besides, the interaction of the congregates to the clergy was very divided in the aspect of gender roles due to the fact that the table that two intricate cased Torahs were brought out on could only be seen by the men and recite by men only. As far as the division of roles, I found it interesting that some of the women explained to us that it was not a form of disrespect or act of degrading because they play their specialized role in the congregation, which is often misunderstood and in their perspective more liberating than most portray it to me. It was also explained to me that women are seen as separate but equal when stated throughput Jewish

For by no means would I have the Latin language completely removed from the divine service, as my chief concern is with the youth. If I could bring to pass that Greek and Hebrew were as familiar to us as the Latin, and offered as much good music and song, we would hold mass, sing and read on successive Sundays in all four languages: German, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.”

Jews were forced to wear something symbolizing their religion in as early as the 1200s. It was only reintroduced within the second month of WWII(November 1939). The rules of what Jews would wear switched up until 1941 when it was finalized that they’d wear the yellow Star of David with the word

For this assignment I took part in a religious service at a small Orthodox Church in Baltimore.

They would put the kneeling board down and do a prayer. Three girls, dressed in white, came out and lite some candles. The service didn’t begin until everyone was in their pews and then came silence before anything else happened. After a while of silence, we got up and sang a hymn. The priest, with the three girls in white, walked down the center aisle as we sang. He then prayed a prayer from a book and one of the students came up to the podium and said the first reading. The student told us what we had to recite back to him throughout the reading. There were about three different readings at different times also each one had a different phrase we had to recite back. The priest read from Luke 6:42 King James Version, which stated “Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.” The priest kissed the Bible at the end of the reading. We sang a few hymns and sat down. He stepped off the stage onto the ground and talked about a saint you saved many slaves lives by spreading the love of Jesus. He tried to connect the scripture to the story, but it was semi difficult to understand how they connect. We then kneeled and the priest read another prayer to us. Multiple times throughout the service we would sing a hymn, sit down and listened to readings or the priest, lastly we would kneel and pray. They prepared communion at the front on the stage. Everyone waited in line to get bread to eat in honor of Jesus death. To be able to take communion there were step to be taken also being a part of the catholic church. After communion was taken we sang a hymn and said the Lord’s prayer. It was hard

I attended the St. Anne’s Orthodox Church in Corvallis Oregon on Sunday March 18th. Initially I was most surprised by the large open room in the middle, there were few pews (only around the outside) and large extravagant carpets lined the floors. Secondly, and probably most evident to most people, was the walled off area at the front and the icons that coated the side walls. By the time I had arrived the service had just started and I heard singing as soon as I entered the building. To me it seemed weird that even the priest said everything (except the sermon) in the form of a song. I still am not sure why exactly they read scripture and recited creeds in such a way. Another thing that was apparently different was the way communion was served.

For this comparison of building, I will focus on my church after I moved to New Jersey, as there are many similarities between both the religious buildings. What was most interesting to me was the temple had an industrial feel to it, and if it were not for the sign out front, I would have mistaken Temple Israel as a commercial building. When I entered the sanctuary, where the main religious ceremony takes place, the first thing I did was put on a yarmulke, small Jewish hat worn mostly by men but I looked women could wear them if that already are not wearing a hat of some kind. As the religious ritual began, the Rabbi walked up the alter steps, approached the podium, and began the Morning Prayer. This is very different from the Roman Catholic Church where the approach to the alter is more ceremonial, with a hymn being sung while the presit carries the Bible down the aisle, usually accompanied by an altar boy carrying a cross. The readings continue with a practitioner standing behind a large podium, where the Torah would eventually be placed, reading various Psalms from various passages referred to as the Mishna, Minyan, Yarsit Kotage, and Posit Mar. The first reading of the psalms ended with the Prayer for Peace, which asks God for world peace. This is similar to what I was used to attending Church; however, the ritual was far shorter, with the Priest reading from two sections of the Bible, as opposed to multiple passages. Another person walks up to the podium of the Torah, which I learned is also known as the bimah, and precedes to read additional readings, did not hear them being referred to as psalms. This process goes on for approximately twenty minutes, with various people going

Another important part of the celebration took place inside the temple, the Exultet or Easter Proclamation was sung by a member of the choir. In the past, a priest or a deacon has sung the Exultet, so this was new to me. The Exultet is a song of hope and triumph, because Christ has overcome death. The Exultet is followed by the Liturgy of the Word, which consisted in readings from the Old Testament, the epistle and the Gospel. The readings summarize the history of Salvation. For example, the reading from Genesis described creation, the reading from the Exodus the liberation of Egypt and the Gospel proclaimed the Resurrection of Christ. After each reading psalms were sung. However, during this celebration there were only 4 readings. During the reading of the Gospel, candles were relit to remind us the resurrection of Christ.

As a group, they would read from the prayer books, which were small excerpts of the Torah, and prayed together. They bowed along and even turned their backs together, in unison, as a

Tradition is not only a protective, conservative principle; it is, primarily, the principle of a body to grow together and reconcile in unity. The prayer before receive communion made me feel as though we was at the last supper. Reminding us of his love and how we don’t want to face any condemnation because of unworthiness, but for the cleansing and sanctification. We placing our hope in Jesus Christ through

One of the first things that mesmerized me was the actual church building itself. The structure of the Church was breathtaking. I was unsure of where to enter because of how big the building was so, I followed behind a family. Upon entering, I was in awe with the inside of the cathedral. Visually, I noticed the candles on my left hand side and the hard-to-miss statue in the center of the church displaying Jesus the Christ on the cross. As I sat down, I noticed the variety of different people attending this service. The majority of the church was filled with seniors, parents, and their children. The environment was more relaxed than I was expecting, as half way through the service, a child began to cry and no one seemed to be annoyed because of this. The service was held entirely in French and, as I do not speak French, I had a pamphlet that guided me through the hour.