After having the oppurtunity to observe or attend a Bar Mitzvah, as usual, I tend to reflect upon my own beliefs and feelings. First, I have to say, I’ve become very tolerant or sympathetic to the belief that we all have the right to believe however we want and that we should respect and honor each others beliefs and feelings even if they’re not our own. Therefore, I make every attempt to instill in Dylan to honor and respect such ceremonies. It’s hard for a 12 year old who’s a bit synical to try and be still and not make fun of the unknown. Believe me… after 2 and 1/2 hours of the ceremony, Dylan was not that sympathetic to this notion.
That said, I have to say, it was an interesting experience and brought back many thoughts and memories of past teachings and religeous study I’d done during college and my earlier years. In college, it was a very common practice at Ambassador College to discuss other religions (Link is to the NEW AC, not the one I attended). Of course, the beliefs we were most interested, was Judaism.
It’s interesting being an outsider, but what’s more interesting is not adhering to any one particular point of view, religeously, I tend to observe rituals and practices with an open mind. I’m finding that more and more practices have common themes and common practices, but with different names, purpose and attention across the various “religeous” groups. I believe when you’re emersed in a particular specific approach, you are not as observant and much more biased. Therefore, the commonalities get lost. I was there, so I speak from experience.
All religions have a few common practices with variations and accompanying accessories and places of worship. Interesting.
Shane
