Jewish Temple Beth-El



On March 1st, I attended a Jewish Temple, along with a group of students. It was interesting to see because it was somewhat alike the Catholic tradition. Everyone had to arrive promptly at a certain time on a Friday night. People also had to dress casually, or as Catholics say "your Sunday best". Men wore a hat known as the kippah. This symbolized their love and respect for God. The picture above shows the altar of the Temple.

This is the Torah. inside the Torah are the different teachings within Judaism. The Torah consist of the stories told by Moses, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Our tour guide named Arlene Dryer said that the Torah is read throughout the year (I think so).

The two pictures above show the mosaic glass that is located inside the Temple. It was not in the room where the service is held but Arlene was still kind enough to give us the full tour of all other areas. The light illuminating through the glass made it much more beautiful to look at.

Jewish Film Festival

The Jewish Film Festival is held annually in February. This year the even took place at the Santikos Embassy 14. The purpose is to promote Jewish values and diversity among the Jewish people through a variety of films presented each year. The film we had the chance to see was about a man who had lived his entire life learning and teaching the Catholic traditions but was born as a Jew. He tried to find who he was really meant to be in his lifetime. He had a hard time going back to his Jewish roots because he was used to what he learned his whole life and that was the Catholic teachings. When he finally tried to convert back to his Jewish beliefs/ways not everyone was so accepting of his past. He was torn between the two religions but came to a final decision to remain with his native people and religion. Although the Jewish community did not allow him to offer his Catholic service on Sundays as he normally would, he still was able to pray on his own time. I really enjoyed the film. It was more like a documentary but that is what made it much more interesting. it was entertaining, and in my opinion helps raise community awareness of the Jewish identity, history, and culture.

Below is a picture of Chastina. I'm behind her :)

 

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ (Downtown)

Of all the trips I have gone to, this event is my favorite of all! I grew knowing all about Jesus Christ and our family would always watch the movie on television every December. I was obligated to watch it. In this picture is exactly like the movie. The director of this act was a old friend of mine Mr. Maldujano back in elementary. In this picture, Jesus Christ his hands pinned while being surrounded by Spartans. In the background is the stage, in which it was being prepared.



This is the picture of the Spartans preparing to walk next to Jesus Christ up to stage while being pinned. throughout this moment there were some ladies crying. I wanted to take a picture, but i figured it would be rude. One thing I didn't understand is that some of these Spartans were wearing blue. In the movie they were wearing red, maybe Mr. Maldujano ran out of red. While walking towards the stage Jesus Christ is constantly receiving whips from the Spartans while everybody shouts for justice.

In this picture Jesus Christ has arrived to the stage then is blindfolded. Throughout this event there was a lot talking, and I couldn't understand what they were saying, but one thing i do remember was when King ask the community "should the Son of Jesus should be free?!" (in Spanish). The community kept shouting and yelling. Spartans ties Jesus Christ hands around a cylinder piece of wood and begin to whip multiple times. Jesus Christ did speak but I don't remember what he had said. After this Jesus Christ had began walking with the cross the path to where he will be crucified.

Before Jesus Christ was crucified, he was walking down the pathway carrying the cross on his back. I saw some ladies crying as Jesus Christ was being crucified. There were hundreds of people when this occurred. It was crowded. I had never attended an event like this. It was a different experience that was very heart-wrenching and heart-warming at the same time.