Shabat
Main Points:
1. Elliott went to Shabat!
2. He saw a wonderful community!
3. He naturally felt distant from the community.
4. This reflects upon Elliott's bigger, life goal of integrating with strong, caring communities.
So there's this thing you should know about me. I am lost. No I'm mean really lost. Like existentialist lost. And when it comes to religion, which I hold near and dear to my heart, I feel like I'm more lost than ever. So my solution this year is to try to attend some different religous orginizations and see if I can get a better community around the direction I'm headed.
Welcome to Shabat dinner! So I met this girl named Rebecca Sunshine, who is one of the most kind, fun, and crazy girls I have ever met. She invited me to go to Shabat with her. How can I say no? So the journey begins. . .
For the first part of the dinner, I felt like a spy. I tried to hide that I was not Jewish. Some guy asked me, are there many jews in Summit County. Luckily I was able to sneak past that one, as I knew the Jewish community quite well where I was from.
But man, I was out of place during service. Have you ever had a secret language or an inside joke. That builds a relationship or a community. Well the Jewish secret language is Hebrew. Most the service was singing hebrew songs. Now I don't know much hebrew, so it was kind of hard to sing along or understand what exactly was going on.
That said, I felt something that I have never really felt at any other service. There was some intense energy in the songs. I had a feeling of bonding and everything uniting when I sat and listened. It was wonderful.
In addition, I liked how outgoing everyone was. Grant it, it was the first day after Summer, but everyone was so open to me. I met so many people. I felt so at home.
After we ate dinner. I had a conversation on the beauty of the human mind with Rachel, Becca and I talked about putting grapes in noodles, and we sang some really energetic chants.
So basicly I found a really loving community, what I am looking for in a religion. I even signed up to join a group going to see a famous Jewish Rap Star on Friday! Huzzah!
But on another side, I have found such a loving, energetic, true community here, but I feel like I cannot really enter. Becca tells me that Judiasm does not really have a religious center, but more of a community center. I don't think I can enter into that community. I mean I would love to become good friends with Becca and all the others but I feel like I'm different there. I feel like I don't share the common bond. And that's really interesting, because I've never felt that (all be it I've never tried a different religion before).
I guess I feel like an observer more than a member. Now my question is, what does it take to become a member of a community? I feel like I share the same beliefs. I feel like I am open. But there is something more. It's like being a Frat pledge instead of a member.
But what I can say overall is that I have found one of the missing sides to my religious experience: community. There is such a strong friendship between the 50 students and I am quite envious.
I think this highlights a small part of my bigger struggle. Trying to work my way into something. I have always been a rogue, someone on the outside. But I now have a task before me: integrate myself into a thing I love, community.
1. Elliott went to Shabat!
2. He saw a wonderful community!
3. He naturally felt distant from the community.
4. This reflects upon Elliott's bigger, life goal of integrating with strong, caring communities.
So there's this thing you should know about me. I am lost. No I'm mean really lost. Like existentialist lost. And when it comes to religion, which I hold near and dear to my heart, I feel like I'm more lost than ever. So my solution this year is to try to attend some different religous orginizations and see if I can get a better community around the direction I'm headed.
Welcome to Shabat dinner! So I met this girl named Rebecca Sunshine, who is one of the most kind, fun, and crazy girls I have ever met. She invited me to go to Shabat with her. How can I say no? So the journey begins. . .
For the first part of the dinner, I felt like a spy. I tried to hide that I was not Jewish. Some guy asked me, are there many jews in Summit County. Luckily I was able to sneak past that one, as I knew the Jewish community quite well where I was from.
But man, I was out of place during service. Have you ever had a secret language or an inside joke. That builds a relationship or a community. Well the Jewish secret language is Hebrew. Most the service was singing hebrew songs. Now I don't know much hebrew, so it was kind of hard to sing along or understand what exactly was going on.
That said, I felt something that I have never really felt at any other service. There was some intense energy in the songs. I had a feeling of bonding and everything uniting when I sat and listened. It was wonderful.
In addition, I liked how outgoing everyone was. Grant it, it was the first day after Summer, but everyone was so open to me. I met so many people. I felt so at home.
After we ate dinner. I had a conversation on the beauty of the human mind with Rachel, Becca and I talked about putting grapes in noodles, and we sang some really energetic chants.
So basicly I found a really loving community, what I am looking for in a religion. I even signed up to join a group going to see a famous Jewish Rap Star on Friday! Huzzah!
But on another side, I have found such a loving, energetic, true community here, but I feel like I cannot really enter. Becca tells me that Judiasm does not really have a religious center, but more of a community center. I don't think I can enter into that community. I mean I would love to become good friends with Becca and all the others but I feel like I'm different there. I feel like I don't share the common bond. And that's really interesting, because I've never felt that (all be it I've never tried a different religion before).
I guess I feel like an observer more than a member. Now my question is, what does it take to become a member of a community? I feel like I share the same beliefs. I feel like I am open. But there is something more. It's like being a Frat pledge instead of a member.
But what I can say overall is that I have found one of the missing sides to my religious experience: community. There is such a strong friendship between the 50 students and I am quite envious.
I think this highlights a small part of my bigger struggle. Trying to work my way into something. I have always been a rogue, someone on the outside. But I now have a task before me: integrate myself into a thing I love, community.
