Saturday, November 30, 2013 marked the fourth night of Chanukah. It was also the day that my friend Brandon and I visited the Center for Jewish Life in Marlboro, N.J. According to the information I gathered from different online news articles, it is a fairly new reform Synagogue that opened its doors in another smaller location in 2004. The current site of the temple was the former Monmouth Worship Center. Rabbi Yossi Kanelsky, with the help of the members of the congregation, relocated to this 18,000 square foot building in 2011. The temple is currently located within a scenic community off of Route 79 surrounded by private homes. The Synagogue can accommodate more than 500 people and has 17 classrooms for various activities for both adults and children.
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.
Upon entering the room, I noticed a long white lattice fence in the middle of the room. It was a partition d...
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... I had never even seen most of the food displayed, I eagerly and respectfully tried each dish. After everyone in the room sat down at the massive table, the Rabbi picked up a glass of wine and made a prayer over it. Then, Rabbi Kanelsky passed around pieces of Challah bread to the entire table. This lunch festival was yet another ceremony dedicated to one of the member’s deceased relative. At the conclusion, the Rabbi said another prayer out loud for the deceased and the relative expressed his gratitude to everyone.
Overall, my visit to the Center for Jewish Life in Marlboro, N.J. was an enlightening experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. Ultimately, I thought it was delightful to see that whether you are at a Church or Synagogue, the main purpose of the establishment is to bring people together to pray for health, happiness and love for another.
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.
According to Shir Tikvah’s website “Shir Tikvah is a Kehillah kedosha (holy community) joyfully revealing the intersections of Talmud Torah (lifelong Torah study), t 'filah (prayer), tzedakah (justice), and hachnasat orchim (radical hospitality)” Shir Tikvah meaning “Song of Hope” is a Reform Jewish Temple located on Minnehaha Parkway in Minneapolis. The congregation was established in 1988 when Stacy Offner, first woman Rabbi in MN, resigned from Mount Zion Temple after a disagreement over her homosexuality (Weber, 2014). Offner and six of her supporters joined together as they shared a mutual vision of starting a synagogue with more of a liberal approach to Judaism. They desired to have a synagogue that was welcoming and personal: encouraging
Judaism is one of the oldest religious practices all over the world. It literally gave a start to two the most popular religions nowadays: Islam and Christianity. It seems that everybody must be familiar with the basics of this religion, though it is not true. The majority of people know only a few attributes or ceremonies that Judaism is using until modern times, such as Menorah (the candelabrum with seven branches), Star of David (traditionally known as the symbol of Judaism) and, let’s say, the Bar Mitzvah ceremony. What people are missing (apart from the associations) is how truly symbolic all of them are in the practice of Judaism. Bar or Bat Mitzvah, for example, present practically the basis of Jewish culture and religion. The idea of how and why it became so important is what we will try to look through.
United Jewish Communities. (2003). National Jewish Population Survey 2000-01. Retrieved October 8, 2033, from: http
“The Aliyah - Synagogue.” Judaism, Torah and Jewish Info - Chabad Lubavitch. N.p., n.d. Web.
The preservation of the Sabbath is one of the most important aspects of the Jewish Culture and religion. By abiding by the Sabbath, the Jewish people have a distinctive way of connecting with God. The Jewish religion is unique to other religions; in other religions, temples and churches are built as holy space, but Judaism builds a church to God in t...
During the 1970s, in the United States, there was a rise in the movement of Jewish Christians known as Messianic Judaism. Messianic Judaism was formerly known as Jews for Jesus, which was organized by a man named Moishe Rosen. The primary focus of Rosen’s group was to focus on expressing their beliefs in Jesus. Messianic Judaism was created as this “exciting vision of Christianity that worked around traditional views of a faith alien to Jews” (Ariel 319). Like Rosen’s movement, Jews for Jesus, Messianic Judaism’s intention is to present Jesus as the Messiah. Not only do they want to show their attitudes towards Christianity, but they also want to identify themselves as the first Jewish followers of Jesus. Considering themselves as evangelical premillennialists, their view has proven them that they are the Chosen People of God.
Because we lived so close to New York City, the typical tourist attractions lined up didn't spark our interest. Our choir teacher knew that going to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island would be an eighth grade field trip all over again, so she began to think of what we could do instead. She asked a friend she knew in the city about our situation. This friend of hers happened to be part of the relief crew at St. Paul's Chapel, located right next to site Ground Zero. Today St. Paul's serves as a museum and a shrine to those lost in the fatal attacks of September 2001 and to the rescue workers who donated their lives to help save others lives. We were scheduled to sing at the church, giving our own personal service.
In her article, “Sweet, Sour, and Resentful,” Firoozeh Dumas directs us through on how her mom readies a feast. She gives us detailed description on how her mother cooks the food for the guests by starting out grocery shopping until the part that the food is ready to be served. She writes about how because of their Iranian traditions they have to prepare a Persian feast for their newcomer friends and family, which brought joy to everyone, but her mother. Yet, we can see that she is trying to make sense to it all, every weekend they have guests over since the Iran’s Revolution started. Vitally, traditions stay great just when they convey satisfaction to the individuals celebrating those traditions. Also, the food that we choose tends to be based upon our culture, economic and social aspects. I agree with her even though traditions within various cultures are very different, but they all are supposed to do one thing that is bring everyone closer to each other, and bring happiness. However, that’s not always the case, especially in this article.
Shabbat Shalom! (PAUSE) Thank you for coming to my bat mitzvah. It means a lot that you are here to celebrate with me. To me, becoming a Bat Mitzvah means that I am now an adult and part of a legacy. Through this process, I have become a member of the Jewish community. I have religious responsibilities, and also have gained the ability to lead people. I had the choice of becoming a Bat Mitzvah. I decided I wanted to because it meant a lot to carry on the family line of Judaism. It felt important to me to be a part of what all of my cousins and family members have embarked on.
In studying the Jewish elderly members of the Center, Myerhoff attempted to understand the people there as an isolated society with a distinct culture. Through participant observation, as well as carefully recorded interviews and conversations, Myerhoff aimed to document this culture and understand it as a basis for unity among the Center members. Her immersion in this culture along with her anthropological perspective made her successful in representing the people of the Center. In her book, Number the Days, Myerhoff provides readers with an ethnographic analysis of the existence of a culture. After reading the book, I feel that I have a comprehensive understanding of the Center people. Through her descriptions, based on observation, and her recorded dialogues Myerhoff actually offers readers an illustration of this `society.' "She uses this material to show us the very processes through which her subjects weave meaning and identity out of their memories and experiences," thus not only presenting the culture itself, but defining the context in which it emerged (Turner (in Myerhoff), xv).
The Holocaust Memorial Museum was built to honor those who were directly affected by the Holocaust. “Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God himself. Never” Elie Wiesel (“Holocaust Encyclopedia”). While some believe the building of the museum was a political act for President Carter, others were very optimistic of the outcome. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum was a marvelous achievement for this country and those who dedicated their time and effort to this wonderful building. This museum not only has an interesting history and opening, but exhibits inside are nothing in comparison to the statistics of this grand foundation.
The church is found in The Old City of Jerusalem. The church is on top of what most people believe is the location of Jesus’s crucifixion. The site is actually supposed not only stand on the location that
in the life of a Jewish person. It is a place of study, discussion and
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.