Hamilton 1 Becea Hamilton Introduction To Anthropology 101 Dr. Foleh April 8, 2013 Ethnographic Report of a Jewish Service As I approached the entrance of the Congregation Beth Shalom Synagogue for a Saturday morning Sabbath service, I had no idea what to expect. For a fairly large building, there were only 5 cars in the parking lot, which did not give me a good first impression. Yet, as I stepped inside I was greeted by a kind man who immediately asked who I was and why I had come to the synagogue that day. He was dressed in a colorful shall, which I later found out was called a_>7 ees yer prayer shawl, and a matching head covering. As the first [qany uncomfortable moment ¥eBled oe fs in, I was slightly apprehensive to continue with observation. Right off the bat, I was ey Ost yiive! ( ‘an outsider. I had no shawl or head covering, creating no way to hide in the background or is Tt was amazing how : simply blend in quiet i everyone dressed, acted, and spoke to me. [nee culture of being Jewish was so accepted and embraced by all the members thes, that te outsider stuck out like a sore thumb. Os ae a church, neo As the service started, I glanced around to see ‘nel there were an even numberof met and ‘women, though most everyone except for specific family members were quite elderly and devote in their practices. They all greeted each other by name and asked about specific events in their lives. For instance, I heard one woman congratulate a boy named Ezekiel on his recent bar mitzvah. All of these observations suggested to me that the Jewish culture is a very tight-knit community. They identify with each other in a way that is deep, connected, and honest. When the service shifted to Torah readings, the Rabbi called out from the stage, “Could someoneon Hamilton 2 please help the visitors find their place in the Torah under the chair?” As this was said, every single eye in the synagogue tured in my direction, until one woman behind me got up and kindly demonstrated how to read the Hebrew Torah text, which reads in the opposite direction of English I was shocked at the sameness inthe actions of the synagogue members. It actully ook a moment for someone to break out ofthe “masses” staring in my direction, and help me find my ob. place. They cling so much together, and yet are so welcoming to others who are curious about [set their community. Later in the service, the Rabbi had discussion withthe congregation from the 2"2#¢ | stage about eating kosher foods. He asked them to say why they personally have chosen to eat kosher. One woman piped up and said, “Because that’s just what Jews do!” It seems that the Jewish people find strong identity in their culture and community, to the point of dictating their cating habits. This is also seen in their reception after the service as well. They offered food and drink to everyone who attended, and sat down for over an hour after the two hour service to talk with each other. The event consumed so much of their day, and yet they wanted still to spend time together. Their shared Jewish culture strengthens their communal bonds and relationships. From all of this observation, I believe that the Jewish people place strong value on kinship. Whether with actual tt, as with the elderly bringing some of their younger family members, ike Ezekiel tothe service or fctiv Lich in that they are family through a shared ———— religion. Their seemingly impenetrable communal bond exudes from their language, clothing, wok food, making hard for a nonmember as myself to easily take part in. This experience re in d me of Lila Abu-Lughod'’s first few days with the tribe of Awlad’Ali she stayed with. With their extreme value of kinship and community, Abu-Lughod felt like they were very reserved and carefuul with how they acted around her. The bond between the families and fictive kinships created by combined tribes or family friends were so important that to bring a newHamilton 3 member in was an all member spectacle. With all eyes on her, Abu-Lughod had to learn how to speak, dress, and eat just as they did before becoming partially apart of their community. Kinship is what holds their relationships together and what makes their rituals acceptable, both in the Jewish and Awlad’ Ali cultures. ‘Though kinship helped the members of the synagogue connect with each other, a central theme that arose on the individual level was that of maintaining holiness. In a discussion I had YO with the Rabbi after the service, I asked him about what specific moments and actions during th service meant for their faith. He answered to the effect of the most essential aspect of being Jewish is to continually work to become more holy in order to then become closer with God. Once this was explained, many of the rituals and liturgy that were observed made much more sense. One of the simplest ways they were to make their bodies holy was in wearing their head coverings and prayer shawls during their worship times as a constant reminder of their purpose for attending. It is so important to the Jewish people to adhere to this law, that they have bought many different sets of matching head coverings and prayer shawls. One woman had a prayer. \T- [3 shawl that perfectly matched the rainbow pattenon her glasses, while another elderly man had a liye head covering with the Chicago skyline wrapped around it. There was one toddler girl who came “7, bolic with her parents a a family, who had on a hot pink head covering, while most other members Le had matching colors in their shawls and head coverings. I found that in thinking about the ha, Ig, semiotics of this fashion choice, there is such priority in wearing these garments, and emphasis, A on keeping their body as holy as possibly, that they go to the extent of buying multiple sets, and in fashionable and unique designs. These unique designs, in a way, seemed to draw attention to their holiness, like their holiness was equivalent to much effort they had put in to making their shawl and head covering match perfectly with their outfit.eas Hamilton 4 Another way the Jewish people emphasized their personal holiness was in the effort applied to learning Hebrew and memorizing all of the Hebrew prayers. During the service, they would have members of the congregation come up and read from the serolled Torah, written only in Hebrew, aloud to the rest of the people in the service. The amount of work and concentration that would have to have gone into learning a language that reads the opposite direction as English, has a completely different alphabet, and spoken on pitched tones must be very extensive. Yet, every single person in attendance could recite and follow the Hebrew with ease. This tremendous effort put forth towards proficiency in all of the Hebrew liturgy speaks to the profound emphasis placed on attaining personal holiness. Their desire to be close to God drives their passion to follow overwhelming amounts of laws to work towards a holy state of being. Yet, what was most astonishing was how familiar some of the emphasis of holiness felt in ~ ison to the Christian church, For instance, in one the Hebrew prayers the English translation read, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Ruler of the Heavens”. When I read this, I couldn’t wohelp but have the line from the old hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty! All thy works shall praise thy Name in earth, and sky, and sea!” be automatically triggered in my head. This realization brought me back to a discussion we had in class about narratives and myths in regards to America and to Wall Street. In thinking about this, I recognized that the church seems to have a narrative that follows in line with the Jewish concrete belief that holiness is what brings a person closest to God. Christians abstractly talk of “praying harder” or “cleaning up my life” in | order to make myself more holy, and then God will have something good to work with and then be able to fix everything much easier. It seems that the only difference with the Jews is that they [- he have made this concept their core value, with written out laws that come to define their culture fe and their individualism. Christianity, though so desperate to set itself apart from other religions, au “y ee,Hamilton 5 sometimes holds significant similarities that cannot be ignored. In this realization, I feel that the Christians can learn from Jewish culture and their strive to become holy, but qualify it with what is written in the New Testament about faith as well. Overall, my experience at the synagogue revealed the importance of kinship and attaining holiness in order to be a “true” Jew. Though many times, there were feelings of discomfort and confusion in being a part of the out group, I was able to learn and grow in my understanding of the Jewish culture, and of myself and my own religious beliefs as well.FOLCH Ethnography Standards and Rubric he Za Writing Style: ‘* Grammar and syntax errors minimal (shows signs of proof-reading). * Assignment specifications met (page length, additional notes, and sketches). + Language choice is appropriate for a college anthropology course (the tone is “scholarly” rather than “personal diary;” the audience is anthropological, which is to say, cares about culture and meaning in society). ‘+ Language is direct rather than oblique. + Regularly iterates between Data—Evidence—Argument (or Observation—Interpretation— Analysis). Ethnographic Data: ‘+ Ethical commitment to protect informants and honor others by using pseudonyms, ‘minimizing tisk to “vulnerable populations,” openly acknowledging the purpose and identity of researcher rather than acting like an undercover journalist. Rich “thick description” that takes the reader close to the data rather than leaves events and details up to the imagination of the reader. 5, Does not assume familiarity with the event or situation described. © Acknowledges the writer’s positionality (the author's gender, race, socio-economic background, nationality, age, etc are not ignored in the writing but are understood to impact the kind of data gathered and how people responded). + Uses quotations from speech and signs, Describes events and actions step-by-step. Details symbols and images in specifics rather than in general abstractions. + Nuances and does not ignore underlying assumptions. * Avoids problematic words like: weird, normal, typical, always, strange, natural, as you know, we, exotic, ugly, obvious. + Actively employs a “culturally relative” posture rather than an “ethnocentric” or judging one. Anthropological Theory: % Incorporates references to texts read throughout the semester as well as key concepts discussed in lectures. Paraphrases or directly quotes readings in order to make a point about that text and then shows how ethnographic data compares and contrasts with that point and that reading, ‘+ Makes connections even in apparently disparate situations and contexts. + Defines key terms and the contributions of theorists (thus demonstrating an understanding of what those concepts mean) and then correctly applies them to the data. Y toegel > needy wolk