Understanding Synagogue Visits for Non-Jewish Families

Duncan guides non-Jewish families through the synagogue experience, encouraging questions and observation to ease their understanding.

### Understanding the Synagogue Experience for Non-Jewish Family Members
* 👋 Duncan from PJ Library introduces the diverse range of family subscribers, highlighting the mix of **Jewish and non-Jewish members**.
* 🏛 He shares insights on what non-Jewish family members can expect when attending a synagogue service, noting that it can be **intimidating for newcomers**.
* 🕍 During the live tour, he emphasizes the **importance of observing customs**, such as wearing a **kippah** and the significance of the **tallit during special occasions**.
* 📖 Duncan explains the prayer book, or siddur, which **opens from right to left** and often includes Hebrew prayers alongside **English translations and transliterations** for easier understanding.
* 🕯 He discusses the Torah service, where the **Torah scrolls are taken out**, and the use of a **yad, or pointer**, to read from the Torah **without touching it directly**.
* 🔥 The NER Tamid, or **eternal flame**, is highlighted as a common feature in synagogues, symbolizing **God's everlasting presence**.
* 🤔 Duncan encourages viewers to **ask questions during their visit** to feel more comfortable and to **follow the congregation's lead for participation**.
* 💬 He concludes by inviting further questions in the comments and wishing everyone a **great week ahead**.

hi everyone. It's Duncan from PJ library. You know, at PJ library, we have such a wide variety of family subscribers. People come from all different cultures and experiences and backgrounds. There are some PJ library families where every family member is Jewish, and we have some families where some members are Jewish and some are not. And so, I thought what might be interesting for today's Facebook live would be to give you sort of the experience for those non-Jewish members of your family, what it's like coming to a synagogue. I know that a lot of things that on the Jewish calendar can be a little intimidating if you've never experienced them before, for Jews and non-Jews alike. So, one of those things happens every week, sometimes every day, is going to a synagogue. So, today we're gonna walk through a synagogue and give you a little tour of what it looks like and what you can expect when you go to a service at a synagogue. Feel free to ask questions along the way, and I'll try my best to see them and answer them, and of course, I'll try

While I'm doing everything to hold the camera as well, so first thing is when you walk in, and I'm actually in my synagogue now. It's a building I know very well, so I'll be perfect for the tour. When you walk in, probably want to go to either the main sanctuary or a chapel. For today, we're gonna go to a chapel in the synagogue because it's a little bit smaller and easier for me to walk around while holding the phone so that you can see everything in sort of a smaller, more enclosed area. So, we first come in. A lot of synagogues have a place where you can pick up a key pot if you don't have one. You may know it by its name, yarmulke, which is actually Yiddish and from a couple other languages it was borrowed from. So, in this synagogue here in my scenario, we've got a little place where you can pick up a yarmulke. We also have... It's not out today because there was not a

service today, but or not a Torah service up here in that today is a place to pick up a thali. This is a prayer shawl. You've probably seen one of these before. Now, the difference, one difference between the kippah and the prayer shawl is that in a lot of congregations and a lot of synagogues, you will see men and women, everybody wearing, if it's the custom of that synagogue, everybody wearing a kippah. The tallit, the prayer shawl, is something that is just done when the Torah is being taken out on special occasions, and it's just worn by people who've had their Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah. So again, the kippah is something that, if it's the tradition of the synagogue, that everybody would wear, and the tallit is something that you would wear after you've had your Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah. And a lot of times, the family will give the Bar Mitzvah or Bat

Mitzvah a thali as a special present just for that occasion. So I'm actually, I actually brought a keep out with me, so I'm gonna put on mine before we go inside. And some synagogues have the tradition where you have it on whenever you're in the synagogue building, and some may be just when you're in the service itself. The best thing to do is look around and see what other people are doing. You may see that all the men are wearing a kippah. You may see that everybody's wearing a kippah. You may see that the men are wearing a kippah, and the women have a different kind of head covering. That happens sometimes too. So the best thing to do is look around and see what other people are doing, and then ask. Asking is the best way to find out what the custom for that synagogue is. So we're gonna go on in, and before I open the door, I'm gonna grab a seat or a prayer book, bring that with me too, so I can show you some.

things in there, so I'm gonna open the doors here, take you right, yeah, and I'm gonna do my best to turn the camera around too because this is a beautiful chapel, and I'll give you a little view of the whole thing here. See, it's not huge, it's not the big sanctuary, but it's a little bit easier for us to walk around and show you a couple things today. So, you've got your keep on your thali if you are Jewish and had your bar or your Bat Mitzvah, and it's a tourist service, and you come in, take your seed or your prayer book. Obviously, there's nothing going on here today, but I wanted to show you something in the seat over here. Now, may look a little, may look backwards on your screen, but I'm going to show you the seed or is a book that opens from right to left. So, you'll notice it's backwards from the way that PG library books are, which are in English from left to right, and in

a lot of the prayer books. A lot of the C2 ream you will see both English and Hebrew. So, a lot of the prayer books will have the Hebrew prayers and then the English translation. And sometimes they'll even have the transliteration, which is the Hebrew phonetically written out in or somewhat phonetically written out in English. So, for example, on the PG library blog, when you see us write the word Mitzvah, well, that's not an English word, that's a Hebrew word. But instead of putting it in Hebrew letters, which can get confusing when you go back and forth between Hebrew and English fonts, we write it in English. And that's called a transliteration when we spell it, you know, mi tzv aah. That's a transliteration from the original Hebrew to make it easy to follow along. So, a lot of the prayer books, the C do REME, which is the plural for C door, will have the transliteration as well, which makes it a

lot easier to follow along. Sometimes will even have hints about where to stand up and where to sit down. But again, the best thing to do is watch what everybody does. And when the whole congregation stands, that's a good sign that you should stand. When the whole congregation is seated, good sign for you to be seated. You can also watch the rabbi or the Cantor or whoever else is leading the service at any given time. Usually, there will be pretty good about giving you that instruction just in case at some point during the service. If you are here for a Torah service, the Torah's or one will be taken out one or more. So I'm gonna take you up to the Ark where the tours are kept. So I'll try to keep the camera as still as possible here and have any questions. Feel free to put them into the comments there and hopefully they'll pop up while I'm showing you inside the arc here. So the tourist service is a section of the service in which one of the torres is taken out and

We're very fortunate here at this synagogue. We have this, this is the chapel, and we all, we have for tours currently right here in the chapel. We have a couple others in the main sanctuary itself. So this is a tour. Again, the writing's going to be probably backwards on your screen, but it's got these wonderful decorations on it to make it look beautiful. It's got this cloth cover on it. It's got these crowns that cover the rods here that hold the scrolls. So when it tilts up there, so these are just very, just this decorative is really what they're for, decorative covers for those rods that hold the scrolls. The two scrolls underneath, I can lift this up alone. I'm not gonna take one out, but I'm going to lift it up a little so you can see the parchment. So that's the parchment there that the Torah is written on. We don't touch that with our fingers because the oils on your hands might mess up the ink, mess-up

the parchment. So, when we read from the Torah, we actually use a separate pointer appointed. This one doesn't have an honor, but this one does. So, this is the, you see it there, this is the Yad. I'm going to just put it down for a second so I can lift it up and show you. Yad means hand in Hebrew, and this is actually, some of these look like a hand. You can see a little pointer, and this is what you use. This one's made of metal, and you used to follow along on the Torah in the writing. So, this way, you don't have to touch the Torah with your actual hand. Oh, Annie has a question. Hi, Annie. Oh, Annie, listen, Portland. Yes, I'm in Portland here, and I met a congregation of a Shalom here in Portland, Oregon. So, I'm putting this Yad back. Okay, so that's a Torah. So, the Torah service during that portion of the main service, the Torah will be brought out, and in some cases, and some holidays, more than one Torah is

brought out, and then the Torah service is complete, and the Torah goes back into the ark to close this here. One other thing you may have noticed when you walked over, and I'll try to just lean back a little bit here, is the NER Tamid, that beautiful in our case, and here of the last sculpture there, but they could be made of anything, I think, but that light looks sort of like a, I think it's this one's made to look like a fire. With that light above the ark there is called the NER Tamid, which is the eternal flame. It's there to represent God's presence, is always with us. So, I said I partly wanted to point it out because we happen to have a beautiful NER Tamid in this chapel here, the synagogue, but also because it's something very common that you'll see at most synagogues. And that's basically it. As I mentioned before, the best thing that you can do is follow the example of other people in the congregation and ask questions, ask

questions of the service leader of the rabbi of the Cantor because they'll be more than happy to answer those questions and make you feel more comfortable while you're here. If you have any other questions, feel free to leave them as comments after the video, and we'll be happy to answer them for you. Hope you have a great rest of your week. Take care, PG library friends. Talk to you soon.

Visiting a Synagogue for the First Time

PJ Library

Navigating a Synagogue: A Tour for Non-Jewish Family Members

Duncan from PJ Library is giving a tour of his synagogue to help non-Jewish family members understand what to expect during a service.

He highlights the importance of the kippah and tallit, explaining their significance and when they are typically worn.

The tour aims to demystify the synagogue experience and encourage questions along the way.

The speaker brings a kippah and mentions the varying traditions of wearing it in different synagogues.

They suggest looking around and asking others to understand the customs.

The speaker also highlights the unique layout of the chapel and shows the prayer book, or siddur, which opens from right to left, contrasting with English books.

Prayer books often feature Hebrew prayers alongside English translations and transliterations.

The transliteration helps individuals follow along by phonetically spelling out Hebrew words in English.

During the service, it's important to observe the congregation and the leader for cues on when to stand or sit, and the Torah is typically taken out during a designated section of the service.

The synagogue chapel features beautifully decorated Torah scrolls with decorative covers and crowns on the rods.

The parchment of the Torah is not touched with fingers to preserve the ink, and a metal pointer, called a Yad, is used to follow along while reading.

The Torah service is an important part of the main service, and multiple Torahs may be brought out during certain holidays.

The Significance of the NER Tamid in Synagogues

The NER Tamid, or eternal flame, is a common feature in synagogues, representing God's constant presence.

It is often located above the ark where the Torah is kept.

The speaker encourages congregation members to ask questions for a better understanding of the service and offers to answer any additional questions in the comments.