Rabbi Ari Moffic, of Sukkat Shalom, is officiating at my wedding. Since my fiance and I aren't members of a temple, she let us know that we could get tickets to Sukkat Shalom's high holy day services by contacting the executive director. Since they don't sell their tickets, like most temples, they do ask for a donation in exchange for the tickets. But, giving what you can seems much more reasonable than being asked to pay a set price. (I don't even want to get started at why temples sell tickets for services on the holiest holidays . . .seems so . . . not right).
Anyhoo, we went to their Rosh Hashanah service this past Saturday and over all we had a positive experience. For some reason, I was expecting it to be more of a diverse congregation and so I was really disappointed to see that my fiance was the only nonwhite person in the room. In terms of looking for a congregation to join, that is a major issue for us. But, I guess they are diverse in that they are very accepting of interfaith families. I guess it just depends what sort of diversity is most important to you.
But, over all, the service was very nice. The rabbi gave an interesting sermon on biblical and modern parent child relationships. He used the example of Paul in Chorus Line. While he didn't come right out and argue for gay rights, there was definitely a message that parents should accept their children no matter their sexual orientation. I definitely appreciated that. There was lots of music and the shofar blower was awesome.
Showing posts with label synagogues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label synagogues. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Bucktown Wicker Park Chabad Jewish Center
Chabad in Wicker Park has the *best* synagogue advertisements and pamphlets EVER. They are so slick and funny...they seriously do an excellent job of targeting people like me. Young, jewish and no where to go for the high holidays.
Last year, attracted by the signs I saw advertising their services, I decided to check it out for the kol nidrei service. Let's just say I was beyond surprised at how orthodox the service was! They separated men and women, there was dovening, almost everything said was in hebrew. I had no idea it was going to be like that! I was expecting young, hip, and relaxed so I felt a bit uncomfortable.
All that being said, they are very welcoming and no one seemed to care that I came wearing jeans. That is always a plus in my book. I would even probably do services here again as it is convenient and simple. But, in my opinion, this isn't really the ideal place for an interfaith couple. Someone who didn't already have some understanding of what was going on and then had to sit separated from their jewish partner might be very bored/uncomfortable.
Last year, attracted by the signs I saw advertising their services, I decided to check it out for the kol nidrei service. Let's just say I was beyond surprised at how orthodox the service was! They separated men and women, there was dovening, almost everything said was in hebrew. I had no idea it was going to be like that! I was expecting young, hip, and relaxed so I felt a bit uncomfortable.
All that being said, they are very welcoming and no one seemed to care that I came wearing jeans. That is always a plus in my book. I would even probably do services here again as it is convenient and simple. But, in my opinion, this isn't really the ideal place for an interfaith couple. Someone who didn't already have some understanding of what was going on and then had to sit separated from their jewish partner might be very bored/uncomfortable.
