Reflection On A Reform Jewish Temple

On March 25th, 2016 I attended a service at Temple Emanuel, a Reform Jewish Temple, in my hometown of Andover Massachusetts. As an outsider, from the beginning I was extremely paranoid about my behavior. I had some prior knowledge from attending a Bat Mitzvah at a young age, but all that did for me was let me know that as a male, I needed to wear a yamaka. Luckily for me, the temple had spares I was allowed to use. As soon as I walked into the room where the service was taking place, part of me was reminded of church. The beige color scheme, open space with many places to sit, and books placed in front of every seat. However, I could see the differences as well. Every male yamaka’s on, from toddlers to the elderly. In addition, there was no stained glass something I have seen in every church I have attended. Also, in the front of the room, there were no crosses, something I have expected in a place of worship,

Recalling, some of the conversations we had in class about sacred spaces, I remembered that something being sacred to very much up to the individual. While the temple and the items in it had no impact on me whatsoever, in my head I wanted to be respectful. I knew that this was a sacred space to many of those in attendance, so a large portion of me believed that I should participate and follow along with those who were members of the temple. I wanted to be respectful of the service; I did not want my presence to be disruptive to the people who simply came to practice their religion. The question was, is my participation in the ritual’s and practices of the service, as a Roman Catholic who is confirmed in the church, going to impact those in the temple. In order to meet in the middle, I decided to stand up whenever I was asked by the rabbi to, however, I did not bow when others bowed during prayers, as I did not know when to and was too late whenever I saw it