Congregation Kol Ami
The account of
his visit to the synagogue our teacher of the Torah being passed around
and kissed provided motivation for me to set a date and invite roommates and
others to go to Kol Ami. The hope that the Torah would be passed around kept me
in my place after it seemed I’d stayed longer than the hour I’d expected I
would.
As I mentioned in class I got to the
synagogue early and was greeted warmly by a man and a woman (she the Rabbi),
who noticed I was a visitor -she guessed BYU , I said yes, she said “what
class” and I said Survey of World Religions.
As I stood in my church dress pants, white shirt and blue winter coat the
man I met gave me the Talmud and a book with the service schedule and the Rabbi
informed me there would be two services, a traditional service which is mostly
in Hebrew, and the contemporary service which has less Hebrew and may be easier
to follow. With one last welcome I was left to choose where to go, and I thought
I’d go to the traditional because I thought it might be interesting and it was
close the entrance in case the other classmates I invited might show. I touched
the Mezuza as I entered and looked around at the Hebrew and also the names of
passed Jews on the walls of the room then sat waiting for the start of
services. At 9:10 or so it was just me, another man who had come in, and the
man I had met, and they decided to get started with the recitation. During the
second hour more people came in and a woman with a clip board had to ask
someone to come in so there would be a minion.
Towards the end lots of people including
families came in and there was a baby blessing, where the Rabbi had a young family
come up and she and the girls’ father gave what seems to be a rote prayer,
saying that the girl was beautiful and, giving her a welcome to the synagogue
community, and listing hopes for her future life. This was really a precious
experience to witness. Then, a man got up to make some announcements and asked
who had asked for those who had an honor to raise their hand. A young man next
to me raised his hand, I had seen him help read the Talmud. The man said that with honors and class
participation, “we (members of the synagogue) are not waiting for the Rabbi or
an assistant to do Judaism for us, we
are doing Judaism.” I noticed the way
some people talked was not the typical Utah accent, but some from the East. I
left right after the as the group broke for some bar time and a meal.
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