Dear Peace Parents and Families,
Last Friday, November 10th, our Confirmation students had the privilege of visiting Temple Israel, a Jewish synagogue in Minneapolis. Temple Israel describes themselves as an “urban congregation dedicated to serving a diverse community,” and it was actually the first synagogue established in Minneapolis. Additionally, it’s currently one of the ten largest Jewish congregations in the United States.
We began the evening with a tour the synagogue and some conversation time with our host, Jonathan. After, we joined them in worship for their Friday night Shabbat service. “Shabbat” is another word for “Sabbath,” and while most Christian churches gather for worship on Sunday mornings, Jews honor the Sabbath from Friday evenings to Saturday evenings. Temple Israel, in specific, describes Shabbat as an invitation “to take a break from our daily lives to nourish our souls and reconnect with our community.”
Our group found some of the similarities and differences between our religions to be very interesting. Similarly to Christians, Jews share the Old Testament (AKA the Hebrew Bible) as a sacred text. Additionally, along with Christianity and Islam, Jews trace their faith ancestry back to the prophet Abraham as well. However, while they are monotheistic (believe in one God only), Jews are not Trinitarian—they do not believe in the Holy Spirit and consider Jesus to have been only a prophet, not the Messiah.
We are grateful for Temple Israel’s gracious hospitality and for the wonderful experience we got to share together as a group!
A couple additional notes:
- Our congregational Pizza and Game Night is tomorrow night from 6:00-7:30pm, and we’d love to see you there! This is an intergenerational event, and we invite people of all ages and interests to attend. Bring a favorite game, bring a friend/neighbor, and bring an fun and positive attitude—it’s going to be a great evening together! Scroll down and click on the button to register!
- Preparations and rehearsals are underway for this year’s Christmas Program, which will take place on Sunday, December 17, during worship. Parents who have students registered for Sunday School should have received an email from me that includes a role preference form—you can complete it through this link as well. Please have them submitted by Sunday, November 19 so that we can continue our planning and preparation—thanks in advance!
Grace and Peace,
Joe