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Attending Temple Today
I wept. Frequently.
I am a Christian. However, I unequivocally state that I experienced the presence of God while attending a synagogue today. Today, I was one of the children of Abraham with my brothers and sisters.
After the murders at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh, and being invited by Ricochet Editor Bethany Mandel on October 29, 2018 to show up for Shabbat on November 2-3, 2018, I attended Congregation Lev Shalom, a Reform Temple for services today at 10:00 a.m.
I was resisting tears beginning when I arrived. At the beginning of the service the Rabbi Mindy warmly welcomed everyone who was there. That did it. I let go and allowed my tears to flow freely.
I was warmly greeted at the door and were offered a yamaka. Mine fell off several times and a kind man behind me swapped his yamaka for him. That didn’t help a whole bunch, but I appreciated his inclusion of me.
There were many families present. I was moved to see a father and son sitting together in front of me with the father leading his son in the rhythm of the service.
The people in my row offered me the Siddur, the Jewish Prayer Book. I was startled to see that it was “backwards” in that it opened from right to left instead of left to right. Most of the service was in English, but a substantial portion was in Hebrew. There was a lovely Cantor Soloist who had a beautiful soprano voice. Hearing her golden voice was surprisingly moving for me. I realized that the Jewish religion has been with us for over 5,000 years, and the sense of tradition and connection was overwhelming. The sense of family and the Holy Spirit were also overwhelming.
There was a lovely part of the service where a half dozen ministers from other churches were invited to speak. That was deeply affecting. I am proud to say that one of the speakers was my minister from Unity of Flagstaff. My tears flowed freely again. A box of tissues was passed around row to row. I took two tissues.
I am so glad that I attended synagogue today. It was one of the most moving services I have ever gone to.
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Beautiful story, Gary. Thanks for sharing it.
I am not Jewish, either, but i’ve always believed that Judaism has a lot to give us. And I never understood the evils of anti-semitism. How can such a good people, with such a glorious heritage, be hated so much.
Your story is very affecting, Gary, and Beautiful. I echo Arizona Patriot in thanking you sharing it.
I believe that God has a holy covenant with the Jewish people. They are our brothers and sisters. Thank you so much.
I wish I’d thought to do that. Thanks for sharing, Gary.
This was so moving, thank you for going and sharing your experience!
I don’t think there are any active synagogues in the congressional district where I live which is about 25% larger than Switzerland. I think we only have two Starbucks coffee shop locations in this congressional district though, and as the Lewis Black joke goes, they happen to be right across the street from each other. (Correction, I think we have four or six Starbucks now. Things are booming now, but none which are not near a college campus.)
I looked up synagogues for St. Louis. Googlemaps says there are about 15 to 20 located in a 15 to 20 mile stretch just north of old Highway 40. That seems inconvenient, if you don’t live near that exact area.
Which Congressional District do you live in. I live in AZ-1 which is bigger than the State of Pennsylvania. My county, Coconino County, has 140,000 people, and is larger than New Jersey and Connecticut combined.
Gary – you started to weep just at the greeting at the front door? Your spirit was in charge, that’s for sure. Your yamaka falling off made me smile. I can never get past the music without tears in any service, but in this instance there must not have been a dry eye. Thank you for sharing this – it was a beautiful and powerful description.
Lovely, Gary!