Paper 234

Temple Beth-El is a religious community located on Deering Avenue in the city of Portland. Temple Beth-El is a Jewish Synagogue in the conservative tradition which was founded in the year 1918. Unfortunately at that time there was a split in ideology and the synagogue was unable to sustain itself so within a year the congregation had dissolved. The temple was not able to open its’ doors again until the year 1947 when about 100 members were once again able to open the temple. They have been operating since that time uninterrupted. While the temple still tries to reflect its’ conservative views, the leadership is committed to diversity and does not sway anyone from attending. That commitment is reflected in its’ mission statement to be ‘..a vibrant community which observes Judaism in the Conservative tradition and which is devoted to the perpetuation of Jewish values and culture. Temple Beth-El honors the diversity of its members and is committed to their spiritual growth.’                                           On the previous page I described what some of Judaism’ core beliefs and practices are so I don’t feel the need to reiterate them here. Let this be instead a reflection of my experience of worship when I attended. Morning Prayer services are held at 6:50 a.m. Monday thru Friday, however I was a couple of minutes late and the congregation was already saying their traditional memorial prayers. This however was not a problem as the leader smiled at me and pointed to the prayer booklet which was in use this morning. I smiled back grabbed a booklet and attempted to find the right page so that I could join the congregants in reciting what was being said. Immediately one of the worshippers made their way to me (which wasn’t very far) and directed me to the correct page of the booklet. Finding the page I attempted to keep up with the other worshipper’s, however the leader was speaking so rapidly I found it a little bit difficult to keep up. The liturgy is also... [continues]

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