Student perspectives on worship services from Instructor Jennifer Garvin-Sanchez\u27s Religious Studies 108 Human Spirituality course at Virginia Commonwealth University

Urquidi, Emilie

VCU Scholars Compass

Virginia Commonwealth UniversityVCU Scholars CompassRELS 108 Human Spirituality School of World Studies2015Congregation Beth AhabahEmilie Urquidiurquidien@vcu.eduFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/rels108Part of the Religion Commons© The AuthorThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of World Studies at VCU Scholars Compass. It has been accepted for inclusion inRELS 108 Human Spirituality by an authorized administrator of VCU Scholars Compass. For more information, please contact libcompass@vcu.edu.Downloaded fromhttp://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/rels108/24The full name of the church service I at-tended was called the Congregation of Beth Ahabah. This church service is located at 1111 West Franklin Street, Richmond, Virginia, 23220. This congregation is participates in the Jewish religion, participating in a Sabbath church service. The service I attended was on November 20th at 7:30-8:45pm. At this Sunday church service, the adult volunteer choir was directed by Natan Berenshteyn who music ranges from contemporary to classical. The rabbi who led the church service this Sunday was called Rabbi Martin P. Belfield, Jr.   The outside of the church appeared absolutely gorgeous. The outside color of the church was an eggshell white color. The church contained four pillars that supported the roof of the church. The church included stained glass windows, three doors, and stairs that led the church-goers into the church. The church building really was in my opinion, beautiful. The inside of the church included pews in orderly lines, gold stained interior lining on the walls, and multiple stained glass windows. The Rabbi stood in the middle of the room on the little stage area in front of the pews so that the church-goers could hear and see him properly.   The visitors were greeted very well and very politely. The service came from all sorts of different backgrounds and ethnicities, but for the majority the church-goers were all de-riving from Jewish backgrounds. The average RELS 108 Human Spirituality | PAGE 1Congregation Beth Ahabahby Emilie Urquidigender were men, and the age derived from very young to very old. During service, there were a large amount of people present for the service. For the men at the service, it is con-sidered a sign of respect for all male attendees to wear a head covering, or usually a dress hat or yarmulke. As for everybody else, the dress code was business casual or business formal. As for the politeness of the crowd, no one offered to let me sit with them since I was with my friends.   In the beginning I felt a little out of place while attending service. I was out of comfort zone by a large amount and it just did not feel normal to me. I feel like I felt uncomfortable because this isn’t what I’m used to and this was my first time experiencing a true Jewish Sabbath Sunday. As time went by and during the church service I started to feel a little bit better, I just for some reason couldn’t shake the feeling of feeling so out of place. Although there were a diverse amount of people, the majority were true Jewish faith believers and I obviously am not. I almost felt like I was in a way not being a true Christian, which sounds absolutely ridiculous.   During service, the Rabbi and most of the prayers that were recited and used came from Our Siddur; a prayer book. This is called Mishkan T’filah, the new prayer book of the reform movement. During service, there were prayers upon arising and upon donning the Tzitzit, Tallit, and Tefillin. After these prayers RELS 108 Human Spirituality | PAGE 2religion, we discussed whether we viewed the Jewish religion as a religion or as a communi-ty/culture. I still held onto my belief that the Jewish community was more of a culture, with religion incorporated as a vital to their culture. Attending this Sabbath Sunday service really helped in forming and stabilizing my opinion of the Jewish religion. •Written Fall 2015. © Emilie Urquidi.were said, morning blessings were said later after which are then followed by blessings for the Torah and the readings that derived from biblical and rabbinic writings. Afterwards, Shema Yisrael came next, in orthodox Jewish services, this is usually followed by a series of readings from biblical and rabbinic writing that recalled the offerings made in the temple in Jerusalem. This section concludes the Rabbi’s Kaddish. The next section of morning prayers is called the Pesukei D’Zimrah, were are otherwise known as versus of praise that contain many psalms and many prayers that are made from a tapestry of biblical versus that are followed by the song of sea that is shown in Exodus. After this, the formal public call to prayer occurs which is called Barechu. Barechu is an expanded series of prayers relating to the main recitation of a bigger verse. The tone of each prayer said was very emotional and it was very clear that the Rabbi reciting these prayers were casual but it had a bigger, and very big and deep meaning behind it. The prayers that were said were serious but were voiced in a more relevant and personal way. The congregational participation were, as stated before, personal and interactive. The rabbis were much invested into the prayers that they were saying and tried their best to interact their crowd into connecting with the prayers that they were reciting. The service was ritualistic for the most part, but it felt as if it was almost spontaneous by the amount of singing and bonding that everybody partici-pated in. The service ended by a final prayer and with everybody who attended service talking to each other and catching up as old friends. I actually really enjoyed the Sabbath Sunday service although I did feel out of my comfort zone and a bit awkward. Back in high school I took a world religions course similar to this class and during our topic of the Jewish 

Congregation Beth Ahabah

Virginia Commonwealth University
VCU Scholars Compass
RELS 108 Human Spirituality School of World Studies
2015
Congregation Beth Ahabah
Emilie Urquidi
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/rels108
Part of the Religion Commons
© The Author
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of World Studies at VCU Scholars Compass. It has been accepted for inclusion in
RELS 108 Human Spirituality by an authorized administrator of VCU Scholars Compass. For more information, please contact libcompass@vcu.edu.
Downloaded from
https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/rels108/24
The full name of the church service I at-tended was called the Congregation of 
Beth Ahabah. This church service is located at 
1111 West Franklin Street, Richmond, Virginia, 
23220. This congregation is participates in 
the Jewish religion, participating in a Sabbath 
church service. The service I attended was on 
November 20th at 7:30-8:45pm. At this Sunday 
church service, the adult volunteer choir was 
directed by Natan Berenshteyn who music 
ranges from contemporary to classical. The 
rabbi who led the church service this Sunday 
was called Rabbi Martin P. Belfield, Jr.  
 
The outside of the church appeared absolutely 
gorgeous. The outside color of the church was 
an eggshell white color. The church contained 
four pillars that supported the roof of the 
church. The church included stained glass 
windows, three doors, and stairs that led the 
church-goers into the church. The church 
building really was in my opinion, beautiful. 
The inside of the church included pews in 
orderly lines, gold stained interior lining on 
the walls, and multiple stained glass windows. 
The Rabbi stood in the middle of the room on 
the little stage area in front of the pews so 
that the church-goers could hear and see him 
properly.  
 
The visitors were greeted very well and very 
politely. The service came from all sorts of 
different backgrounds and ethnicities, but for 
the majority the church-goers were all de-
riving from Jewish backgrounds. The average 
RELS 108 Human Spirituality | PAGE 1
Congregation Beth Ahabah
by Emilie Urquidi
gender were men, and the age derived from 
very young to very old. During service, there 
were a large amount of people present for the 
service. For the men at the service, it is con-
sidered a sign of respect for all male attendees 
to wear a head covering, or usually a dress 
hat or yarmulke. As for everybody else, the 
dress code was business casual or business 
formal. As for the politeness of the crowd, no 
one offered to let me sit with them since I was 
with my friends.  
 
In the beginning I felt a little out of place 
while attending service. I was out of comfort 
zone by a large amount and it just did not feel 
normal to me. I feel like I felt uncomfortable 
because this isn’t what I’m used to and this 
was my first time experiencing a true Jewish 
Sabbath Sunday. As time went by and during 
the church service I started to feel a little bit 
better, I just for some reason couldn’t shake 
the feeling of feeling so out of place. Although 
there were a diverse amount of people, the 
majority were true Jewish faith believers and 
I obviously am not. I almost felt like I was in a 
way not being a true Christian, which sounds 
absolutely ridiculous.  
 
During service, the Rabbi and most of the 
prayers that were recited and used came 
from Our Siddur; a prayer book. This is called 
Mishkan T’filah, the new prayer book of the 
reform movement. During service, there were 
prayers upon arising and upon donning the 
Tzitzit, Tallit, and Tefillin. After these prayers 
RELS 108 Human Spirituality | PAGE 2
religion, we discussed whether we viewed the 
Jewish religion as a religion or as a communi-
ty/culture. I still held onto my belief that the 
Jewish community was more of a culture, with 
religion incorporated as a vital to their culture. 
Attending this Sabbath Sunday service really 
helped in forming and stabilizing my opinion 
of the Jewish religion. •
Written Fall 2015. © Emilie Urquidi.
were said, morning blessings were said later 
after which are then followed by blessings 
for the Torah and the readings that derived 
from biblical and rabbinic writings. Afterwards, 
Shema Yisrael came next, in orthodox Jewish 
services, this is usually followed by a series 
of readings from biblical and rabbinic writing 
that recalled the offerings made in the temple 
in Jerusalem. This section concludes the 
Rabbi’s Kaddish. The next section of morning 
prayers is called the Pesukei D’Zimrah, were 
are otherwise known as versus of praise that 
contain many psalms and many prayers that 
are made from a tapestry of biblical versus 
that are followed by the song of sea that is 
shown in Exodus. After this, the formal public 
call to prayer occurs which is called Barechu. 
Barechu is an expanded series of prayers 
relating to the main recitation of a bigger 
verse. The tone of each prayer said was very 
emotional and it was very clear that the Rabbi 
reciting these prayers were casual but it had a 
bigger, and very big and deep meaning behind 
it. The prayers that were said were serious but 
were voiced in a more relevant and personal 
way. The congregational participation were, as 
stated before, personal and interactive. The 
rabbis were much invested into the prayers 
that they were saying and tried their best to 
interact their crowd into connecting with the 
prayers that they were reciting. The service 
was ritualistic for the most part, but it felt as 
if it was almost spontaneous by the amount of 
singing and bonding that everybody partici-
pated in. The service ended by a final prayer 
and with everybody who attended service 
talking to each other and catching up as old 
friends. I actually really enjoyed the Sabbath 
Sunday service although I did feel out of my 
comfort zone and a bit awkward. Back in high 
school I took a world religions course similar 
to this class and during our topic of the Jewish 


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