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Xander Picot
LBST 2101
Professor Celia Sinclair
10 April 2016
Visitation: Local Jewish Temple
When I first started thinking about what I wanted to do for my visitation, I had no idea
what to expect while tossing around my options. I considered many options, including visiting a
Buddhist temple, a church service of a different religion than me (Im Catholic), among others. I
finally settled on going to a Jewish church service. I had previously been to a bat mitzvah of a
former neighbor of mine who was also one of my friends, but I had never been to a service itself.
There happens to be a temple in my hometown, Davidson, North Carolina, called Temple
Kol Tikvah. I contacted the temple by phone number and asked if I could join a service even
though I was another religion. They said that would be perfectly fine, and I could go at any time I
please. I went the weekend of April first since that was a convenient time for me to go. The head
rabbi there, Michael Shields, was very welcoming. He went by what the website says the temple
is all about. Their website, at the end of their who we are statement, says Our doors, minds
and hearts are always open.
I went on one of the days of Shabbat service, which is the day of rest for the Jewish
people and their last day of the week. It is observed from just a few minutes before sunlight on
Friday night until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night. Traditionally, it is
ushered by lighting candles and then reciting a blessing. Their services are much different from

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the catholic masses I go to, but there were some similarities. One of the biggest differences I
noticed is who is prayed to. In Catholicism, we praise God, Jesus, and Mary primarily. In
Judaism, they do not pray to Jesus, but they view him as a Jew. Another primary difference I
noticed is where the readings come from. The Jewish read from a scroll-type paper called the
Torah, meaning the first five books of the twenty-four books of the Tanakh, while Catholics read
sections from a book called the missal.
Although the service lasted almost an hour, I enjoyed the experience a lot. I learned a lot
more about Judaism than I had previously known and the service was shorter than I thought,
given it was not the one that lasted until the next day. Of course, after the service ended I thanked
the rabbi for letting me join the service.
When I went back to look at how this compares to what we learned in class about the
good life, it gave me a sense of knowing who/what people from different religions worship. I can
understand the way people feel about other things in life using their beliefs. One of the things I
can connect this too is when we talked about the Sabbath in class; we talked about how it is
important to have what was described as a routine. It was mentioned that if we call the Sabbath a
delight, then it will reward us.
WORD COUNT: 517
605 South St, Davidson, NC 28036 is the address of Temple Kol Tikvah

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Thank you note