Temple Bat Yahm: My first Shabbat

I went to my first shabbat service this morning. This was my site visit for my final paper for my Religious Studies class. I was invited to my friend's home for Hannukah, and my professor said I could use that for my project, but that isn't until next Saturday, and the final paper is due next Sunday. One of the psychiatrists I work with is Jewish, and he suggested a reform temple. This is the temple he and his family go to.

The service was actually a Shabbat Minyan service. I didn't know the main shabbat service is held Friday evening. There were only 13 people here, including myself and the rabbis.

The chapel, as the sign above the window said, was a round building, with glass walls. There was a glass structure in the middle of the room, like a tower, that seemed to reach past the roof. The light from the sun seemed to filter trough that tower. Today has been cold and cloudy. The temple is near the beach, so the light would peak as clouds moved around giving the sun room to shine.

The seats were in rows in a half circle around the room. All of the upholstery as well as the cloth on the altar was purple. There was a long altar in the center of the room. A man and a woman stood behind the altar, both wearing yarmulkes and white shawls with blue stripes and long tassles. All of the men in the room wore a shawl of some sort, and yarmulkes. There was a stack of the same white shawls with blue stripes on a table just at the entrance of the chapel.

Behind the altar against the far back wall was a wooden cabinet with a curtain covering the center. I was told this was the arc and that the Torah was kept inside.

I was quickly greeted by an older gentleman who asked me if I had come from the Torah class that was held in the morning. I told him that this was my first time ever coming here. He looked surprised, and I told him I was a student and this was a project for school. He asked me about my school. He then asked me, "What is your religion?" I said, "I don't have one." He almost got excited. He told me that he converted from Lutheranism 12 years ago. He got me a prayer book, called a "siddur." He explained that it read from back to front and right to left. He pointed out that it had Hebrew with Transliteration into English letters, and the English translation. He said that the prayers would be spoken in Hebrew, but that I could focus on reading the English.

He also explained that this was a small prayer service. He said that as long as we had 10 people the Torah could be opened. He said that a rabbi is not necessary for shabbat or to read the Torah, as long as ten people are present. He explained that when the Torah is brought out everyone touches the Torah either with the tassles of the robe, the prayer book. or the hand, but then we kiss whatever we touched the Torah with. He quickly introduced me to another man, and his wife. Everyone was so excited. When they heard me explain that my assignment was to visit a site different from what my own orientation was, they all asked me what that orientation was. I told them I was raised Christian but I have not been practicing for years.

The service began. The woman rabbi dictated what pages in the siddur would be read. The whole congregation sang in Hebrew from the siddur. The English translation was spoken. The whole service went like this. The prayers started with a prayer thanking G-d for creating the body, and expressing gratitude for life. The rabbi explained that this is a prayer meant to be said every day in the morning, but that most reform Jews don't do this, so it is done in the Shabbat. The next prayers were worship type prayers, ending with a psalm.

The same man who greeted me first asked a question at the end of the psalm, which described singing with harps and lyres. He said, "Why is it that the Orthodox and Conservatives don't allow the playing of musical instruments when clearly music is described frequently as part of the temple worship in the Torah? The female rabbi answered that the Orthodox holds that music shall not be played until the rebuilding of the 3rd temple.

She explained that the reform is not interested in or looking forward to the building of the 3rd temple, but accepts that all synagogues are worthy substitutes, if not equal to the temple of Jerusalem. The male rabbi then winked, and sang out, "but the times they are a changin.'"

The prayers resumed. A prayer for the sick was started after the rabbi read a list of people of the temple who were sick of body, mind or spirit. The group was asked if anyone wished to add a person to the list. At least 5 people mentioned one or more names. The prayer was ended with a note for the homeless and suffering in the world. and those who were suffering from terrorism. Then prayers became about Torah, and gratitude for the teachings in the Torah. There was a theme of the love that Torah teaches that we should have.

Then the rabbis turned and walked toward the arc in three steps. Everyone stood and faced the arc as well. While still chanting and singing the prayers, they began bowing with a slight bend of the knee and then a quick tip of the upper body toward the arc. This was repeated three times and then the female rabbi approached to arc, and drew the curtain. A large scroll stood there scrolled on two large wooden handles. It was covered with a multicolored fabric case, and the two top handles had silver ornaments covering them. They looked kind of like miniature urns.

The two rabbis carried the Torah to the rows of seats. Everyone stood and got in line to touch the Torah and then kiss their siddur or robe tassels.

Then the Torah was brought to the altar, and opened up. An elderly man stood up from the congregation and came forward. He held a silver tool that looked like a compass, which he used sort of as a pointer to follow the lines as he read them. He explained that he was going to read the story of the seduction of Dinah.

What he said in English was, "The story of the seduction of Dinah, Jacob's daughter by Leah, is one that shows one of the dastardly deeds done in the Torah. Dinah was seduced by Schechem, who fell in love with her and asked Jacob's permission to marry. Permission was given with the exchange of every man in the town becoming circumcised. They did this and Levi and Simeon committed a dastardly deed by ascending on them when they were in pain and killing all of them."
He then read the story in Hebrew out of the Torah.

When he was finished, the female rabbi took the compass like tool and started searching the Torah for dots. The man next to me explained that in the Torah study in the morning they discussed the significance of dots over certain words in the Torah as serving to italicize the words. He said that the Torah has no punctuation and no paragraphs, it is just a stream of words. The rabbis were not able to find any of the dots. The man next to me also told me that the scroll they were using is 1000 years old.

The last prayers were the Kaddish, or the mourning prayers. I thought this was strange because when the rabbi discussed music, she said that the reform is about rejoicing, not mourning the destruction of the temple. She said that part of the reason for not having instruments in orthodox temples was because they were in mourning.

So the Kaddish was read, and again, a list of names of recently departed members of the temple we read. Then the prayer was closed with a prayer for those who died in the Holocaust who no one to say Kaddish for them.

As I left, one of the rabbis shook my hand, and thanked me for coming. He invited me to join them for the Minyan lunch. i was disappointed to have to say no because I needed to get home to my baby.

Overall, I had a beautiful experience. I am glad I happened onto such an intimate service.