The Movement for Reform Judaism

I must admit I sometimes get confused about this too. Does joining in the service signal we are subscribing to all that is being said, including bits we definitely do not believe? On the other hand, standing there tight-lipped can feel odd or even seem discourteous. Of course, there are some Jews who take the attitude that as a church is a Christian place of worship, we should not even be there in the first place. However, in this age of inter-faith understanding, I would not hold to that, while your presence there is much more to do with honouring the person who has died and supporting the family who are mourning, both of which are highly commendable acts. It may be helpful to think of the reverse situation : if a non-Jewish guest is invited to a bar/Batmitzvah at the synagogue, they often join in the English prayers, and we do not think they have thereby converted to Judaism. Equally, we need not fear that participating to a certain extent in a non-Jewish service means we have abandoned Judaism.

Obviously it would not be right to say words that ran counter to Judaism e.g. "in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit" or "through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour". But there is no harm in saying prayers that express sentiments to which we can subscribe, which would include the "Our Father" (which was originally a Hebrew prayer anyway) and many hymns. It does mean stopping and starting every now and then to leave out the difficult bits, but that is probably better than either being absent or silent. The same would apply at a christening, commemorative service or any other special occasion. Ultimately, there are no set rules, because we are in 'new territory' - with Jews and Christians sharing today in a way that was inconceivable for the last 2000 years, and therefore much depends on what you personally feel comfortable doing.

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed