Report on Religious Field Research

Assignment 2: Report on Religious Field Research

Jocelyn Johnson

REL 212 – World Religions

September 9, 2012

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the Jewish religion, Judaism, by attending a religious service and talking with the members of the Jewish faith in order to get to know their values, traditions, and demeanor. I will visit the Hebrew congregation synagogue in Reston, Virginia in order to attend a religious service and converse with members of the Jewish faith. This analysis will also incorporate any misconceptions that were found after learning more about the religion through interacting with members of the Jewish faith and spending time at their place of worship. This paper will aim to test my assumptions and preconceptions of Judaism through my research and interaction with people of its faith during my attendance at the religious service. I don’t know too much about the Jewish religion, but I do have several friends that I went to school with who are Jewish. So I decided to call one of them to see if he wanted to come to the Hebrew Congregation to visit their place of worship. I attended the Hebrew Congregation with my friend, Adam Stroul. Although Adam was Jewish, he himself has actually not spent a great deal of time in synagogues or Hebrew Congregations. Therefore, we both were in for an enlightening and intellectual experience. During our time at the Hebrew Congregation Center Synagogue in Reston, Virginia, we came to get to know several members of the Jewish faith and learned a great deal about the Jewish religion, Judaism. Judaism is a religion that is indigenous to the nation of Israel. However, there are members of the Jewish faith that exist across the entire globe. Nearly all of the members of Jewish faith that I encountered at the Hebrew Congregation were very friendly, courteous, and welcoming. I mentioned that I was a guest and I came to gain some perspective on the values and traditions of the Jewish religion. The people at the Hebrew Congregation seemed to be very eager and excited to share their beliefs and religious customs with me. Adam and I were lucky enough to attend a Shabbat service at the Hebrew Congregation in Reston, Virginia. As it turns out, this is the perfect time of year to study Judaism and learn about the traditions, customs, holidays, and culture. The Jewish New Year begins at Sundown on September 16th. In addition, Yom Kippur is also in several weeks which is a very popular Jewish holiday. Adam and I talked with a member of the Jewish faith who was attending the Shabbat services as well. His name was David. David explained to us that he had been attending Shabbat services for many years with him and his family. David mentioned that he really enjoys attending Shabbat services at the Hebrew Congregations of Reston because the people are so friendly and that it reminds him of when he would attend similar services with his family when he was kid. David further explained that members of the Jewish faith celebrated four different kinds of Shabbats that lead up to the celebration of New Years that is coming this Saturday. According to David, there are many different Shabbats that represent different traditions and meanings for example, this specific kind of Shabbat was known as a Shabbat Mevorchim, which is denoted for welcoming and blessing the upcoming month. Therefore, this particular Shabbat service is held at the end of the month. There are many other different names of the different Shabbats. Another example of a different kind of Shabbat is known as Shabbat Parah. This particular Shabbat is intended to be a preparation for Passover. Adam and I were lucky enough to attend a Shabbat at a wonderful time where the people of Jewish faith were very welcoming and invited us to eat their delicious and traditional foods during our visit. Many members of the Jewish faith with whom we spoke with mentioned that they were excited and intrigued that we were attending a Shabbat service for the first time. In addition, several members mentioned that in some cases, certain Shabbat services are held solely for the purpose of attracting new members and educating people about the culture, traditions, and holidays of Judaism.
Some of my preconceptions about Judaism were that members of the Jewish faith were reserved and shy about communicating their religion with people of other religions. This turned out to be my biggest misconception about the Jewish faith because it turned out to be the complete opposite of my prediction as many members were very sociable and welcomed us as friends even though we were honest and told them that it was also for a research project for our religion class.
Many other people believe that Jews are smart and wealthy. With their intelligence, they desire to dominate the world. Actually, some Jews are smart and rich, but not all of them. However, I have noticed that many of the Jewish people that I know are in fact very intelligent and successful individuals. Jews have several common features and traditions as many other religions.
Jews live in many different areas, so their tradition and culture is influenced by the environment where they grow up or have been living for a while.
Although Jews do not celebrate Christmas and do not believe in Jesus because they think there is no messiah. Many members of the Jewish faith will still go with their Christian friends to their events such and Christmas parties and Thanksgiving traditions. This is evident of open-mindedness, maturity, flexibility. This also explains why most Jews are so welcoming when unexpected guest arrive at their Shabbat services.
To the Jews, messiah is not God who has supper nature power. Messiah is a human being who will become a great military and political leader. They believe that every single child is born has potential to become a messiah. This idea proves that the Jews believe in messiah and wait for the appearance of a messiah to lead their community.
Some Christians don’t like Jews because they think that Jews killed Jesus. This idea is just an ancient mythology which was transmitted by words of mouth. There aren’t any evidences to support the credibility of this theory. In fact, none of reliable history documents affirmed that Jews killed Jesus. These are just several examples of how one can easily form stereo-types and misconceptions about people and religions without taking the time to get to know people and their religion. It is especially easy to form such misconceptions because it is quite often the case many people do not know too much about religion other than their own, and in some cases, even that may be limited to a certain extent as well. Therefore, in order to limit and reduce these misconceptions, I would first recommend for everyone to take at least one introductory religion class. In addition to studying religion to learn about their culture and traditions, it would be best to spend some time with people of other religions and even attend their services and places of worship in order to gain a more accurate and personal perspective on other religions. By attending the Shabbat service at the Hebrew Congregation of Reston, Virginia, I was able to learn a great deal more about Judaism and I was fortunate enough to talk with and get to know several members of the Jewish faith.