Date and Time of visit: February 16,2018 at 8:15 pm
Cultural practice attended: worship service in Temple Sholom synagogue
It was a Friday night 8 pm, me and my friend plan to visit worship service in a Jewish synagogue. For us, it was mixture of both excitement and curiosity to know what’s happening inside the synagogue. We both were catholic believers and expect that it would be similar in synagogue too, but it was way different from our ways of service.
As we enter the building there was a star symbol on top of the main entrance. Once we enter it’s a huge main room which shows different direction to each room in the building. To the right it shows the dining area and to the left, its way to Hebrew class rooms and office. There was no one in the main room and we direct our way to office. There was a lady wearing a formal attire and she was very happy to invite us and she introduced herself as ‘Rabbi Risa’ and said, “Shabbat shalom” we only understand that her name is Risa. She gave us a prayer book and guided us to the prayer hall.
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Room was like a semicircle consist of 10 rows but there was hardly 20 people attending the service. Risa explained that most people prefer to morning services. she presented us to a woman who was siting in the last row, we seated beside her. She introduced herself and gave us a brief description about the prayer book. It can only be read from right to left and its in Hebrew. English translation is given below after each paragraph. Each page consists of psalm readings and prays in
The Essential Features in an Orthodox Synagogue Recall, select, organize and deploy knowledge of Jewish belief and sources of authority, practice and organisation. The main function of the Jewish synagogue is worship, with the emphasis on prayer and reading. For Jews the synagogue is not just a building the word synagogue also refers to the community or congregation. The main features of all synagogues, especially the symbols, are designed to help people to worship God. The layout of the building is rectangular, with seats arranged on three sides.
Shabbat is the Jewish Sabbath day; their day of rest. It begins on Friday and concludes Saturday evening. Shabbat allows time for members to focus on what it is important and that is: worshiping, reflecting on the week, and growing together. Depending on the day (Friday or Saturday) and week (1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th), the service may vary, including the content of worship, it’s timing and style (Molloy, 2013). The Shabbat service we attend took place on the second Friday of the month; it involved music, prayer and a sermon. As we entered Shir Takvih, we felt very welcomed; everyone was polite and answered any questions we had. After we received a copy of their translated prayer book (machzorim) we were directed to the designated place, where we were told that we could sit anywhere we like. The white painted room which was surrounded by big round windows had several roles of wooden fold up chairs. Not wanting to be a disturbance we sat in the back row. At the front of the room there was a bimah with an assortment of musical instruments on one side and a podium directly in the center. Behind the podium, stood a wood frame window that stored unidentifiable items in its
I attended a Saturday morning service at the Congregation of Beth Simcha. This Is a smaller church who meets in different Christian churches until a time where they can buy their own building. Everyone was friendly when I came to the service, as a few different members came up and introduced themselves to me. I was taken aback to be greeted with the phrase, ‘Shabbat Shalom’, and when I asked what it meant, they let me know it meant peaceful Sabbath. They did not have pamphlet or handout that would maybe describe the order of their service, they just handed me an offering envelope and new members slip so I was not sure what to expect.
In my paper I will talk about my visit to The Community Church at Murphy's Landing (CCML). I have chosen this particular Church because it is a family church type and my neighbor goes there and she encouraged me to go with her. I went there with my neighbor on April 6, 2014.This church is an appropriate for this assignment because the people there are welcoming me with an open heart and they are willing to help and provide me with information. When I visit the Church’s site I read these words “We know visiting a new church can be intimidating. But, we want to help you to be as comfortable as possible when and if you join us”. The people gather in the church weekly to glorify God in joyful worship. The expressions of worship on CCML take many forms a prayer, a hymn of reverent awe, a guitar ringing with a chorus of praise, or a warm handshake and a welcoming smile. Their weekly services begin at 9:30 each Sunday at church. Also, they have weekly podcast if anyone wants to listen online. They have many types of services for parents, kids and students. People at CCML were so friendly; they gather around me and start welcoming me, one by one. People there introducing themselves to me, one after another and provide me with their contact information and help. Then we start talking about the church services and Christianity in particular. The mission of CCML was knowing, growing and loving. They seek to live out our mission by worshipping together as a local community of believers, growing in spiritual maturity through discipleship, education, and small groups, caring for one another within the context of the larger church body and small groups, and Communicating the love of Christ to our world, both through local outreach and global mis...
Venturing inside, we all noticed two things very quickly: we were at once wearing entirely too much clothing to be comfortable in the sweltering heat, and entirely too little to fit in with the rest of the congregants assembled. And yet we were welcomed with open arms. We had arrived, the Reverend Rogers L. Pruitt emphasized as we filed into the sanctuary, on a very special day. As he distributed bulletins and hearty handshakes to the rest of the group, I noticed that the front of mine read "Fragment Day." As I looked around the modest sanctuary, I wondered what the service had in store for us.
instead, she started off by introducing herself, provided me with a brief synopsis of her
The morning Shabbat service began around 9 am. Upon entering the building, my friend Brandon reached out and touched the Mezuzah which was placed on the right side of the door. He explained that every door in a Jewish home or building has a Mezuzah. The lobby area displayed many intricate plaques on the wall commemorating past relatives. Before we entered the large room where the congregation was sitting, there were certain items we were required to take with us. The first was the yarmulke, which is a traditional head covering for the men. The second was a garment, which is a religious styled covering placed around the top of the members’ bodies. The garment had Hebrew letters on the rim of one side, which was the side where it laid around our shoulders and neck. Most importantly, we brought with us a leather bound book, which was a copy of the Torah in English.
The church external appearance was quite different than other churches that I have seen. It was basically a big white stucco block with a gold dome on top and four decorated spikes on each corner of the building that surrounded the dome. The people of course were all Greek and were very well dressed. Most of the men and boys all wore suits, and If not they had some kind of vest on. I don’t know if this was some kind of rule or tradition, but it mostly seemed as a respect to God. The women all wore the basic dresses, and all the skirts fell down below the knee. Everybody was proper and ordered. As I walked in the church I entered a lobby of some kind. What I saw hear was something like social hour. Everybody was in there. They were all speaking Greek, and I felt as if I was in a family reunion party. The children were all together; the adults talked together and the young adults all were together. The way they all socialize is when someone comes up to say hello, they give each other a kiss on the cheek and a hug. These people are all very close to each other. It seems as if the church is the center of their lives. I admire that trait as well. To enter the auditorium you must enter this little room, which has a piece of garment from St. Constantine and St. Helen. Also there were candles lit. As they walked through this little room they lit a candle and knelt down for a moment to pray, and then touched each garment and made a cross over their chest.
At 9:55 a man referred to as an usher greeted me and handed me a program. The room I entered into next was large and had an aisle down the center separating the seating. There were eight chairs seated side by side in each row and fifteen rows in total on each side of the aisle to provide comfortable seating for 240 people. I took a seat amongst the rest of the youth in the second row from the front of the platform. On the platform at the front of the room sat various instruments, a large podium and multiple speakers. There was a large, rectangular opening in the center wall at the back of the platform where a large tub with steps, referred to as the baptism tank, was located. Beyond the tank was a large wooden cross hanging on the wall.
in the life of a Jewish person. It is a place of study, discussion and
The religious fanfare in America is overwhelmingly Christian. There appears to be a major increase of interest in spirituality. However, there is a vast difference in the devoutness of churchgoers in frequency of church attendance. The manner in which these individuals attend church is influenced by their ages and also whether or not they have endured difficult life situations. After attending a few church services, one becomes very aware of the various types of attendees. There are three types of churchgoer categories: the Never- Miss-a-Service Churchgoers, the Show-Up for Sunday Morning Service Churchgoers, and lastly, but certainly not the least, Holiday Churchgoers.
Finally, at the completion of the service, the priest welcomed the people and made a few announcements. This tradition of welcoming people into the House of God for worship and fellowship was explained to us by Mina, one the Greek “yiayia” as a gift of
London Steinsaltz, Adin (2000) A Guide to Jewish Prayer. New York
There was incense burning outside which was what had lured me in. Once we got inside, my eyes were popping out of my head with how many items were engulfed inside. There was a lot of hand crafted art, such as jewelry and candles. I marveled for a good long time in there.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss a service that I got to attend that was different from my own religious tradition. I decided to go with my chosen topic because to be honest I had never experienced or thought to experience a different type of church service other than the one I grew up in. I grew up in a Christian home and attended a non-denominational Christian church on a regular basis. I just never felt the need to experience something that was different. So I decided to attend a mass at a Catholic church. I had been to weddings in a Catholic church and even funerals with a Catholic involvement but not an actual mass.