I cannot express how incredibly nervous I was while driving to the Temple for the 7:30pm service. I had just gotten off work and picked up Liz and we was freaking out about everything. 1) After my shift, I'm always worried that I smell strongly of Chocolate Ice Cream.(2)I had returned from a camping trip that morning and was absolutely covered in mosquito bites (3) I only had a T-shirt to wear and I felt like I was too casual (4) I was almost late for the service and really did not want to walk inside the Temple without Shuli or Shimon. I got there on time, in time to let them know about my anxieties and allow them to calm me down before walking in. Allegedly, I was dressed fine and didn't stink of Chocolate (though there were so many bites on my arms!).
Walking into the temple, I could feel all eyes on me, some people were really polite and others were blatantly staring. Uriel had already let me know the deal before inviting me, there are many black Jews in the world, but I would be the first black person to have attended Temple Israel for a good while. I would've frozen solid but Shimon took my hand and led us to his reserved seats near the front, all the while greeting people that we passed with "Shabat Shalom". Shimon is a retired FSU professor, travelling philosopher, Holocoaust survivor, and social worker so he is a really respected person in the community; so while Liz and I looked around and rubbed our hands uncomfortably before the service began, we did feel protected in being under his wing. Our greatest fear was that people would assume we were there to see some kind of spectacle, but coming with the Gottschalks easily made us feel like we were being taught about culture.
Most of a Shabat evening service is made up of singing prayers from the Torah. In the pews before us were copies that listed every prayer in Hebrew, Hebrew transliteration, and English. There is likely a standard progression of prayers to sing because everyone was jumping from page to page without directions while Shuli kept telling me what page to turn to and which passage I should be reading from as everyone sang loud and proudly. At some points I felt comfortable singing but most of the time the language was really confusing and I preferred to shut up so I wouldn't offend anyone. There were points in some songs when people would stand up to bow towards the Ark of the Covenant, turn around to bow towards the back of the room, or jump up from their seats and throw their arms in the air jovially. It was such an experience!
Unlike my childhood experiences from church, the rabbi's sermon was very philosophical and not very religious. Not once did he "preach", he just passed on wise words that he had learned in his studies. He spoke about his trip to the Vatican and seeing paintings that depict God. The short sermon was mostly about the danger in trying to quantify God because we will never be able to even convey how awesome he is. I learned that the Torah scrolls were only read on Shabat morning, not by the Rabbi but by members of the congregation, then the congregation has a discussion about what they had just read. Shuli is going to be reading next Saturday so she excitedly took out the Torah from the Ark for Liz and I to see after the service. All Torahs come from Israel where there are scholars who spend all their lives creating them; they're huge scrolls made out of parchment and covered in fabric so they can't be touched with human hands. As a famous klutz, I kept my distance but still took a picture.
I had the chance to see a significant part of Jewish culture during this service. A little Hispanic girl who had been attending the Temple with her mother for three years had decided to become a member of the Jewish faith. She had been studying the Torah for months and been tutored by the Rabbi and was now choosing to be recognized as a Jew before the congregation. This was the only time during the service that the Torah was brought out of the Ark of the Covenant because she had to hold it in her arms (it's very heavy!) and answer questions from the Rabbi before she could set it down. Later on in the evening, Shimon told me that this was very significant because Jews historically do not evangelize so the decision to join their community was entirely hers.
There is always a small potluck buffet after Shabat evening and Liz and I got fat off pita chips with five different types of dip, brownies, cupcakes, strawberries, e.t.c. The best part of the evening was having most of the congregation come up to us as the night went on to introduce themselves and thank us for visiting. We sat at a table with some senior citizens and had the chance to speak about what we just experienced and what it means to be a Jew. They responded beautifully, happy to tell us everything about their culture. The most surprising part about attending Shabat evening is that it was largely cultural, full of people who were proud to be Jews speaking Hebrew among other Jews; not once did anyone ask me what my beliefs were or if I would like to adopt their beliefs. They didn't even seem curious as to why we had decided to visit, everyone we spoke to was just happy to see us. I might be returning next Saturday because I want to hear Shuli read the Torah, she spoke a lot about trope- the notation for chanting the words that are written down in the holy book , and I want to hear how it sounds. Also, the buffet is bigger on Saturdays!
Sounds awesome man, Great post. It seems that in every religion community plays a big part, and food plays a big part in every community. Glad you had a fun time.
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