What Do Our Neighbors Believe?

Questions and Answers on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Howard Greenstein, Kendra G. Hotz, John Kaltner

• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Year: 2006
• ISBN:
  9781611644111
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

What Do Our Neighbors Believe? offers a concise and accessible introduction to the three Abrahamic faiths. Presented in a question-and-answer format, this book explains the historical and theological foundations of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, including detailed discussions of beliefs, practices, key leaders, and much more.

Chapter Six

Practices

1. Where is the main place of worship?

Judaism. After the destruction of the First Commonwealth in 70 CE, the synagogue replaced the Temple as the primary place for worship in Jewish life. The synagogue originated probably in Babylonia after the fall of Judea in 586 BCE. The Diaspora community there created an extraordinary spiritual and intellectual movement that included a new form of worship destined to become a paradigm for all Western religion. The central feature was the reading of Holy Scripture. The explanation of that Scripture was then added in order that the people might understand and appreciate its message, a methodology that eventually became the sermon. Prayers, hymns, and psalms gave voice to the yearning and hope of a community in exile. This common pattern of religious worship was a gift of Judaism to the Western world.

Those who joined together for this purpose in common search for God became a “synagogue,” a gathering. The synagogue was not a physical structure and thus could not be destroyed. Indeed, the institution has remained immune to the ravages of time and the attacks of enemies, even though many synagogue buildings have been reduced to ashes. This place of meeting, wherever it had existed, had acquired the name of those who met there: the gathering, or the synagogue.

The synagogue edifice itself followed the structural divisions of the Temple in Jerusalem. The ancient Temple contained three major compartments, which included the courts where the people assembled, the sanctuary where the priests performed their sacred functions, and the Holy of Holies behind the curtain where the Ark that housed the Tablets of the Ten Commandments rested. The Temple courts were transformed into the people’s gathering place; the sanctuary became the space where the prayer leader led the people in worship and offered their petitions to God. The holy of holies was replaced by the Ark, the Aron Kodesh, in which the Torah scroll resided. Very often a curtain covered the Ark as it did the Holy of Holies.

This plan of a sacred meeting place therefore originated with Jewish practice. Only Judaism in the ancient world constructed meeting halls for the people; the other temples of antiquity elsewhere were small physical structures, abodes of the gods from which ordinary people were excluded. Judaism made religious observance democratic.

The words synagogue and temple are virtually interchangeable. Neither are Hebrew terms. Synagogue comes from the Greek meaning “bringing together,” and temple comes from the Latin templum. A generation or more ago “temple” referred usually to a Reform or Conservative structure, while “synagogue” referred to an Orthodox house of worship. Today, however, those distinctions hardly apply. In some communities the temple may be Conservative while the Reform congregation is called a synagogue.

As the Greek term suggests, a synagogue is more than a place of prayer. It is a gathering place—the focal point for all Jewish communal life. In addition to being a sanctuary for worship, it serves also as a place of Jewish learning, education, and youth activities. It is also a place for general assembly as well as for social activities. For many centuries in many places the synagogue even served as a hostel for travelers and visitors.

Some synagogues were originally called temples, because they were established almost exclusively as a house of prayer. As time altered its function, however, the word expanded in meaning. A Jewish temple today, like the synagogue, is synonymous with the entire range of religious, cultural, and social services of a congregation. In addition, a synagogue nowadays may number its members in the thousands of people, or it may be as small as a minyan of ten individuals, or a havurah of several families or single men and women.

The major symbols of the synagogue are as old as the faith itself. In most synagogues the most conspicuous symbol placed over the Ark is either the tablets containing the first two words of each of the Ten Commandments or an inscription from biblical or rabbinic literature that reflects a cardinal precept of Judaism.

Every synagogue also displays a seven-branched candelabrum, the menorah. This ceremonial object first appeared in the sanctuary in the wilderness, described in the book of Exodus. According to legend, when Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem, ten tall imposing golden candelabra stood in the central hall of worship in remembrance of the biblical menorah.

The eternal light, ner tamid, which hangs before the Ark, also predates the Temple of Solomon. Originally an oil lamp, but now often electrified in most sanctuaries, the oil lamp is never extinguished but symbolizes the continuity of Jewish observance through time as well as the eternal presence of God.

Most modern synagogues also use other symbols, largely for decorative purposes. Frescoes and murals usually depict festival and holy day symbols, such as the shofar, the megillah, the palm branch, or scenes from biblical narratives. The lions of Judah are also a favorite aesthetic symbol.

Christianity. Because God is understood as creator of all, and all things are understood to exist for the glory of God, any place can provide the setting for Christian worship. But most Christians gather for regular weekly worship in a space specifically designated for that purpose. The building where worship is conducted is sometimes called a “church,” though this term more properly applies to the gathering itself. Within the church building one room, called the sanctuary or nave, is usually set apart for the gathering. In traditions such as Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy the worship space is understood to be holy in a way that makes it fundamentally different from any other space. In most Protestant traditions the worship space is treated with great respect because of the function it serves, but, since all of creation is understood to be holy, it is not fundamentally different from other spaces. Some Protestants signify this by referring to the church building simply as the “meeting house.”

The worship space is typically divided into three areas. The first is an ante-room called the narthex that serves as a place of preparation. The narthex serves both a practical and a spiritual function. It provides a buffer between the outside world and the room where the community worships, allowing worshipers to prepare themselves to enter the worship space without distraction. The narthex may provide coat rooms, for example, or literature about the ministries of the congregation. The narthex also provides worshipers a space where they can prepare themselves spiritually for worship, centering their thoughts on the purposes of worship and quieting concerns that might distract them from those purposes.

The narthex leads into the main worship space, the nave. Except in Eastern Orthodox churches, this space is also called the sanctuary. The nave may contain pews or chairs where worshipers sit during the service, kneelers for use during prayers, Bibles, prayer books, and hymnals. In some traditions it will be lavishly decorated with stained glass windows depicting scenes from the Bible, icons of saints, statuary, and banners and paraments related to the season of the church year. In other traditions, especially among some Protestants, the nave will be very plain, with whitewashed walls and clear windows. The tradition of plainer naves began among some of the Protestant Reformers who were convinced that the Bible did not provide warrant for the use of images in church and who believed that such lavish decorations might distract the faithful from the worship of God. Those traditions that include images in worship have argued that the created order points us toward its creator and may properly be represented in church. Most churches will have a cross hanging somewhere near the front of the nave.

At the front of the nave, and usually elevated by a few steps, is a third area, the chancel. It contains a table or altar for communion, a Bible, a pulpit for preaching and reading, sometimes a lectern, a font or pool of water used for baptism, and perhaps a choir loft. There are also chairs used by worship leaders. In many churches a low railing may separate the chancel from the rest of the nave. In Eastern Orthodox churches, the arrangement differs. A screen of icons physically and visually separates the nave from the communion table. The space containing the communion table is referred to as the sanctuary, and only priests may enter it.

Christian worship varies widely. Some churches do not use instrumental music; others do not provide seating; some use kneelers while others do not; some make use of icons while others forbid them. Regardless of the type of space used or the style of worship, nearly every Christian church includes objects associated with the means of grace: a pulpit for reading and proclaiming the Word, a table or altar for communion, and a font or pool for baptism. These means of grace unite the church and influence the kinds of spaces Christians make use of in worship.

Islam. The mosque is the Islamic equivalent of the Jewish synagogue and the Christian church. It is the location where organized communal prayer takes place, and it is the building the local Muslim community most closely identifies with its faith. The two Arabic words commonly used for the mosque are masjid and jami‘, each of which gets at some aspect of what takes place within its walls. Masjid means “place of prostration,” an allusion to the bending over and bowing that are the characteristic physical movements of Muslim prayer. The word jami‘ comes from a root that carries the primary sense of gathering and joining together, thereby identifying the mosque as the place where the members of the community assemble to express their shared faith.

Many mosques, particularly large ones, have an open courtyard that is enclosed on all sides by a covered walkway. This area is a place for people to meet and socialize, and it usually contains a space that is reserved for performing the obligatory ablutions prior to prayer. Muslims must be in a state of physical and spiritual purity when praying, and there is a series of carefully prescribed washing rituals that one must undertake before entering the mosque. It is forbidden for anyone, including tourists and visitors, to wear shoes in a mosque, so there is always a place near the doorway to store footwear.

Certain architectural features are found in every mosque. Muslims must pray facing Mecca, and the mihrab is a niche in the wall that indicates the direction toward the holy city. It is usually in the form of a doorway or an arch-way that is recessed into the wall but is not an actual opening. Very large mosques that can hold thousands of people will sometimes have more than one mihrab, but one of them is usually considered the primary one, and it is larger and more ornate than the others. The mihrab can be very simple and unadorned, but it is often decorated with elaborate geometric patterns and inscriptions, usually texts from the Qur’an.

To the right of the mihrab is the minbar, or pulpit, another standard feature of a mosque that goes back to the time of the Prophet Muhammad. The minbar is a raised platform that is reached by a series of steps, and there is often a door at the base of the steps. It is also common to find a dome or canopy over the platform at the top of the staircase. This is the location from which the sermon is delivered during noon prayers on Friday, the most important prayer time of the week. The minbar is usually made of either stone or wood, and those of wood tend to be more elaborately decorated with carvings, inscriptions, and inlaid elements.

The minaret is another architectural feature that is identified with mosques. This is a tower-like structure that is usually attached to the main building from which the call to prayer is proclaimed. In earlier periods the muezzin, whose job it is to call people to prayer, would climb the steps of the minaret and deliver the call five times a day. This is still the case at some mosques, but with the rise of modern technology it is more common today to hear a recording of the call to prayer. The minaret is not an essential element of mosque architecture, and it did not become a standard part of the design until the beginning of the Abbasid period in 750.

Those who are accustomed to churches and synagogues as places of worship are often quite surprised when they enter a mosque for the first time because there are no pews or seats. They find themselves in a large open area without any furniture that is broken up by pillars or columns. Lamps adorn the walls and hang from the ceiling, and the entire floor is covered with carpets. One’s attention is not immediately drawn to one location or direction because there is no altar or ark containing the sacred text. A mosque does not contain a sacred space that can be accessed by only a few and is off limits to the rest of the community. Any Muslim is free to stand in or touch any part of a mosque.

In most mosques men and women pray separately. Sometimes there is a balcony for the women, and elsewhere there is a partition between them and the men. In some mosques there is a separate room where the women gather to pray. In a few places, especially in the West, men and women pray together in the same space.

Muslims are required to go to the mosque only for noon prayers on Friday. For the other thirty-four prayer times of the week they are free to pray wherever they wish as long as they face toward Mecca and follow the prescribed ritual. This means that just about any place in the world can become a masjid, or place of prostration. It is not uncommon to see a Muslim unroll a prayer rug and begin to pray in public when the call to prayer is heard.

2. What are the primary rituals and practices of the religion?

Judaism. From the moment he awakens until the time he retires, an observant Jew fills his day with words of gratitude to God. He recites a blessing for washing his hands and face, for setting foot on the floor, for attending to his bodily needs, and for dressing in his customary garments. Women are generally exempted from these obligations, in part because Judaism originated in a patriarchal, Oriental culture, but also in large measure because the sages deliberately excused women as homemakers from all positive commandments in which the time for observance was a determining factor.

An observant Jew may invoke God’s name repeatedly, because benedictions are assigned to almost every conceivable waking experience, such as eating between meals, sitting down to study Torah, purchasing and wearing a new garment, beginning a journey, tasting a new fruit, seeing lightning, hearing thunder, watching the ocean, observing a rainbow, or noticing trees beginning to blossom in the spring. A blessing exists even for meeting a person who is learned in Torah or general studies, for hearing good news, or for absorbing bad news. In addition every person is expected to devote a portion of each day to study, either privately or as a student in class.

One of the central enduring rituals of Judaism is kashrut (“ritual fitness”). Kashrut technically refers not only to properly prepared foods but to ritual objects of any kind. A Torah scroll may or may not be kasher/kosher (“ritually fit”) depending on its composition and its condition. The same principle applies to a prayer shawl, an eternal light, or a mezuzah (a small encased scroll attached to the doorpost of a Jewish home).

In its application to food, kashrut is based on biblical injunctions about prohibited foods that are detailed in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. All vegetables and fruits are permitted. In other categories, prohibited meats include the flesh of all animals such as horses and pigs whose hooves are not cloven and that do not chew the cud. Only fish with fins and scales are permitted, which therefore excludes all shellfish. Fowl that are “unclean” because they are birds of prey are not kosher.

Even ritually permissible foods must be slaughtered in a carefully prescribed manner by a person who is licensed for that purpose and is known as a shochet (“ritual slaughterer”). Carcasses of kosher animals may not reveal any trace of serious disease, especially in the lungs. They must also be drained of blood; this is accomplished by the slaughtering method and by soaking and salting the meat before it is cooked. Furthermore, according to Talmudic law, meat and meat products may not be prepared, served, or eaten with milk products or milk derivatives. Utensils and dishes that belong to one category may not be mixed with those of the other. A person must even wait a specific period of time between consuming portions of meat and milk products.

Whatever is forbidden according to the categories of kashrut is termed terefah, which in Hebrew means literally “torn” and referred originally to any living animal that had fallen victim to a beast or bird of prey and was therefore unacceptable as a food. Eventually, the concept of terefah extended to all forbidden foods.

Jewish tradition also emphasizes the observance of mikveh. Mikveh is a process of immersion in water from a continually fresh, flowing source for purposes of ritual purification. This observance became not only the paradigm for later Christian baptism, but endured as a prerequisite in Judaism for ritual purity from earliest antiquity. Archaeological findings confirm mikveh as one of the most ancient of all Jewish rituals.

Originally, only Orthodox women attended the mikveh, primarily to regain ritual purity after the menstrual period. In our time, however, mikvaot (plural) exist in countless Jewish communities and attract both men and women for a wide range of spiritually significant moments, including recovery from illness or addictions of various kinds, anniversaries, graduations, preparation for marriage, closure for divorce, or even preparation for Shabbat. Once reserved for Orthodox believers, mikveh now caters to many non-Orthodox Jews as well.

One of the fundamental rituals of Jewish observance is the ceremony of Brit Milah, from the Hebrew meaning the “covenant of circumcision.” Circumcision began with Abraham (Gen. 17:10–27) as the seal of the covenant between him and God. It transformed Abraham into a Jew. Ever since that time all male children are bound by the same ritual.

Just as male infants are named at their circumcision, female children are named in a comparable ceremony called b’rit chayim, the “covenant of life,” which occurs either at home or in the synagogue. If held in the synagogue the ceremony may include an aliyah (“calling up”) to the Torah for the parents of the child, during which time they also offer a special blessing for their daughter.

The thirteenth year was a significant milestone in the life of every young Jewish boy. To celebrate the completion of his total reliance on others for his moral and intellectual growth, and the beginning of his own accountability in that enterprise, he was called to recite the blessings over the Torah on the Sabbath immediately following his thirteenth birthday. Sometime in the Middle Ages, the custom evolved of designating a young man at this stage of life as a bar mitzvah, from the Hebrew meaning literally “a son of the commandment,” but more freely signifying “a responsible Jew.”

In contemporary Reform and Conservative Judaism this ritual also includes girls. In most cases the ceremony is exactly the same or very similar, except that for girls it is called a bat mitzvah, from the Hebrew meaning “a daughter of the commandment.”

Christianity. A Christian service of worship incorporates many of the most important rituals for the faith. Sunday services will include readings from Scripture, a sermon, prayers, a collection of funds taken up for the poor and to su...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Dedication Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Publisher’s Note
• Chapte One: Origin and Composition
• Chapte Two: Dates, People, and Places
• Chapte Three: Sacred Texts and Other Writings
• Chapte Four: Leadership and Authority
• Chapte Five: Beliefs
• Chapte Six: Practices
• Chapte Seven: Relationships
• Chapte Eight: Social Issues
• Chapte Nine: Current Concerns and Future Prospects
• Appendixes
• About the Authors