It was amazing. I had never attended a Jewish worship service, I hardly remember anything from the Passover dinner I once participated in. It was so lovely. I cried, I laughed. Everything felt purposeful. Everyone seemed so warm with one another - the entire congregation - hugging and kissing one another as everyone came in. Warm and genuine. I'd be down for being be less Puritanical at church and do cheek kisses and hugs.
There were many interesting parts, and wow, the symbolism. I naturally got distracted thinking about what worship might have been like for the Israelites - I don't know that it would resemble much of what I saw but as they where taking the Torah out of the "Arch" my mind was picturing them wandering in the desert. They did do a Mishieberach - a prayer for healing on behalf of others. The Rabbi stands at the alter and reads the names of people he asks everyone to remember during the prayer (then Rabbi also asked the congregation to give him any additional names), if you had someone you where praying for, or observing the morning period for you were asked to stand during the prayer. Familiar? The Rabbi would chant a line and the congregation would chant it back. I'm totally down with the Hebrew chanting, it's different, but beautiful. Definitely powerful. The Rabbi of the congregation I attended was simply wonderful. Many of the good things about the service I'm certain are a reflection of him.
At times I did irreverently feel like I was in a Fiddler On The Roof sing-a-long. All the Hebrew chanting. Some of the tunes played on the guitar could have come straight from Fiddler. I thus felt my impressions of Jewish life were slightly more valid.
One of the most humorous parts involved this photo:
They did past out candy - and we threw it at the people participating in the Mitzvah. Pretty certain I pelted a congregation member in the back of the head - right in his Kippah.
I was loathed to throw all of the three pieces of candy I was handed.... I think we should all get a piece of candy after the sacrament, you know, to help us remember the sweet blessings the atonement brings... And they passed out chewy fruit sugar gelatin - that's about as close as you get to fruit snacks without being fruit snacks. I love fruit snacks. Somehow two ended up in my purse. After throwing one and realizing my range from the back row would not allow me to reach the target individuals, I was simply being considerate of the other members of the congregation by stashing the sugary goodness. In memory of the sweetness of the moment, of course.
We visited afterwards and had a delicious lunch. What was described as a "potluck" put every ward potluck of my entire at church life to shame. I died! The cake.
I mean, it's beautiful, right? Not frosting - covered in white chocolate. And all those cherries - marzipan. It was a delicious piece of art. N baked the cake and another of the Mitzvah participants frosted it.
I had honestly not expected to be so moved by the prayers and rituals. I thought it would simply be a fascinating cultural experience. I liked one of the things the Rabbi said about it "If we made it up, we would have written better stories". No false happy endings for the Israelites. Such a pleasant way to spend a morning/afternoon.
1 comment:
As the "N" in this post, I was thrilled to read this as I sit here in the Amana Colonies, IA. I loved what you wrote and I am excited that you got a picture of the cake. As far as we know, no one else got one, so thanks for that, and many other things.
N
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