My good friend Zach Ross invited me. I had gotten to know him pretty well from sharing core classes on Team 6-2 fairly early on in our 6th grade school year at Percy Julian Middle School. He was one of many Jewish people I met among my new classmates. Throughout 6th grade, I got to know so much about Judaism from hearing my Jewish classmates talk openly about their religious and cultural practices.
On this Saturday morning in December, I went to the Oak Park Temple for the liturgy, dressed up in fine clothing. Zach was having his bar mitzvah along with Seth Klapman, another of my classmates. As I entered the synagogue and made my way to my seat in the sanctuary, I saw many classmates from Julian there.
The ceremony started around 10 AM and was about 2 hours long. Wanting to have a better sense of what to expect, I called Zach's mom to ask about it. As she told it, some of it was in English and some of it was in Hebrew.
At one point, a decorated cabinet was opened on the platform of the sanctuary and large Torah scrolls came out and were placed on a stand. Zach and Seth both chanted portions of the Torah in Hebrew. Both of them then gave a short message, in English, sharing their interpretation of the passages they chanted.
From what I can remember, Zach's passage was the story of Jacob after he fled and got into some bickering as he sought a wife among Laban's daughters. He remarked that this passage really speaks about how we should respond to violence in our world, if we could take the time to better understand one another. Later that day, I remember getting into a bit of an argument with someone, and in the wake of it, I was humbled thinking back to what Zach said about seeking to make peace with one another.
I also noticed a woman would stand on the platform and lead the music, and she was referred to as the cantor. I had never heard of this term before. Yet when I went to Mass week after week later that month, I realized that Roman Catholic Churches had cantors, too, who led the singing.
The ceremony ended around 12 noon. I went back to the Temple later in the day for a celebratory party. I was, again, dressed up. Upon arriving, I noticed everyone was dressed rather casually. The main celebration happened in the assembly hall that was cordoned off by a moveable wall from the sanctuary. There was a party more geared for adults with alcohol in the main entry of the synagogue. There was good food there, pizza, and some other treats. There was a DJ playing music and leading dances, including a traditional Jewish dance when people take turns getting lifted up in the chair.
Reflecting on this experience, I regard it as one of the greatest honors of my life to attend my Jewish friend's bar mitzvah. It was a window into the religion of people who I had come to know closely at Julian. It was a capstone moment in the transformation I experience getting to know another religion and culture that helped me appreciate my own, and was part of why middle school was such a defining time in my life. Indeed, I came to realize how much of Christianity is based on Judaism. And getting to know it helped me appreciate my faith even more, so that I would truly be primed for the encounter with God in the sacrament of Confirmation.
No comments:
Post a Comment