Women Transcending Boundaries met at Congregation Beth Sholom\u2013Chevra Shas in Jamesville, a Conservative synagogue, hosted by Jeanette Powell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Learning about Judaism\u2014Jeanette Powell<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeanette led a tour of the synagogue and explained Jewish\npractices. New terms we learned:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Tallit<\/em>: the prayer shawl worn for worship by both\nmen and women. The tallit reminds people that during prayer, they should separate\nthemselves from the outside world; the fringe in the corners of the tallit is a\nreminder of the Ten Commandments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Kippa<\/em>: the prayer cap worn by men (and some\nwomen) as a sign of respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Holy Ark<\/em>: holds the Torah scrolls. The scrolls are\nhand lettered, written in Hebrew, and they must be kept in perfect condition in\norder to be used. Each scroll includes the entire Torah. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Ner Tamid<\/em>: the eternal light. The ner tamid reminds\nus of God\u2019s eternal presence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Siddur<\/em> and Chumash<\/em>:\nThe Siddur, or prayer book, is printed in both Hebrew and English; it is used\nduring the worship service, which itself is conducted partly in Hebrew and\npartly in English. The Chumash includes the Torah and commentaries; it too is printed\nin both Hebrew and English, allowing the congregation to follow the Torah\nreader during this part of the worship service. Even though part of the service\nis in Hebrew, one can quite easily follow along in English. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeanette explained that the rabbi is the teacher of the congregation\nbut does not run the congregation in the same way that many Christian pastors\nrun their churches. Congregation Beth Sholom\u2013Chevra Shas is run by its members through\na board of trustees. During the Torah portion of the worship service, the rabbi\nshares his interpretation of the reading and invites discussion from the\ncongregation. Congregation members may offer differing points of view and\ndifferent perspectives on the reading. Jeanette notes this is quite different\nfrom the tradition in most churches, where the pastor delivers a sermon that is\nnot commented upon during the service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Congregation Beth Sholom\u2013Chevra Shas is in the Conservative\ntradition (as are Temple Beth El and Temple Adath Yeshurun in the area). A more\ngenerally observant branch of Judaism is the Orthodox tradition (Young Israel\nShaarei Torah), and the more liberal branch is the Reform movement (Temple Society\nof Concord). There is another branch, the Reconstructionist movement, but no\ntemple from that affiliation is in Syracuse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeanette explained that women at Congregation\nBeth Sholom\u2013Chevra Shas are allowed to read\nfrom the Torah; often lead the service and act as hazzan, or cantor; and are\nvery involved in running the synagogue. The current congregation president is a\nwoman. Any WTB member is welcome to attend the prayer service on Fridays at\n6:15 p.m. (8 p.m. on First Friday). Saturday services\nare from 9:30 a.m. until noon, and\nSunday prayer is from 9:30 to 10 a.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Learning about the Hajj\u2014Beatrice Muhammad<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Beatrice and her husband recently returned from the hajj. She\nshared posters, pictures and memories. Participation in the hajj is one of the\nfive pillars of Islam, expected of all Muslims who have the money and health to\ngo on this spiritual pilgrimage. Prior to the hajj, Beatrice visited Medina,\nwhere Muhammad (the founder of Islam and a descendant of Ishmael) is buried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the hajj Beatrice was among 3 million people from all\naround the world. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to come back,\u201d she said. The hajj takes place\nin Mecca (Saudi Arabia) at the site where Muslims believe Ibrahim was asked to\nsacrifice his son and where he built the first house of worship to God. Men\nwear a simple garment consisting of two pieces of white cloth fashioned to\ncover their body; in this way, they all look the same, regardless of their\nstation in life. Women may wear a similar outfit, although they also have the\noption of wearing regular clothing, provided their attire fits loosely and covers\ntheir whole body. As part of the hajj, Muslims participate in many activities\nand ceremonies, such as walking back and forth in a certain place seven times\nto simulate Hagar searching for water for her child. On one of the days, all 3\nmillion pilgrims were together on one mountain, symbolizing the Day of Judgment\nwhen all will stand before God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Civil Liberties <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For about 20 minutes at the end of the meeting, the group discussed concerns about civil liberties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 More than 1300 Muslims are being detained\nby the Immigration and Naturalization Service; in some cases, families do not\nknow where their loved ones are being held. The<\/em> New York\nTimes <\/em>and the Detroit Free Press<\/em>\nreported on April 3, 2002, that a judge has ruled that Rabih Haddad (of Ann\nArbor, Michigan), founder of the Islamic charity Global Relief Foundation (and an\nacquaintance of Danya), must receive an open immigration hearing despite the\nJustice Department\u2019s request to keep it closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Not enough people are speaking out about\nthese detainees or about other civil liberties issues. We need to educate\nourselves and speak out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Some women believe there is a real\npossibility of the United States using a nuclear bomb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Many discussions on civil liberties and\npeace issues are being held in metro Syracuse, but few people attend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Some expressed interest in working on peace\nissues with existing groups, while others liked the opportunity for this new\nwomen-only group to take a stand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Some women are most interested in service\nprojects; some want to be active politically; some want to do both. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Organizations of Interest<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Syracuse Peace Council\ndescribes itself as \u201ca comprehensive grassroots social justice organization …\n. SPC educates, agitates and organizes\naround issues of war and war culture, military conscription, nuclear power and\nweapons, criminal justice, prisons, police abuse, the death penalty, hate\ngroups, gender and gender oppression, racism and the support of traditional\nindigenous peoples.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Peace Action of Central New York describes\nitself as \u201ca non-profit grassroots organization working to fulfill a vision of\na world free from oppression and the threat of war, where resources are\ndirected to human and environmental needs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Fellowship of Congregations\ncomprises nine congregations (Jewish, Christian and Muslim) on Syracuse\u2019s East Side\nworking together to better the neighborhood through the Near Eastside Community\nOrganization. Its fellowship events bring together the members of the various\ncongregations to learn about each other\u2019s faiths and discuss issues of concern.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Women of the Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas in Jamesville took us on a tour of the synagogue. This was followed by a description of Jewish spiritual practices, a report by a Muslim woman recently returned from the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), and expressions of concerns about civil liberties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[20,16,17,41,38],"class_list":["post-7791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-programs","tag-dialogue","tag-islam","tag-judaism","tag-spiritual-practices","tag-visiting-faith-communities",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7791"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8955,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7791\/revisions\/8955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}