Analysis of Nessah Synagogue Community - Term Paper Example

NESSAH SYNAGOGUE Introduction My visit focused on the popular Nessah Synagogue in California. Located in Beverly Hills, the synagogue is very popular and a significant landmark for the community. It is next to the First Church of Christ, which also has significant religious influence. The synagogue has multiple events based on various traditions and culture; however, I attended one of the daily prayer services and stayed after for the Nessah Israel Young Professionals fun day. Unlike most of the daily service prayers for different religions that have limited attendance, it came as a surprise to as the synagogue was packed. Moreover, the NIYP program had multiple facilitators and in this case, it was a fun day focusing on games, testimonials from the alumni, food and drinks with Jewish Culture as the theme. The Nessah community is very particular about history and during interactions; I was able to acquire a lot about the synagogue, different programs and its society. It is through Nessah synagogue that migrants from Iran have possessed the capacity to keep their customs alive, while additionally observing American conventions. Nonetheless, adjusting their Iranian Jewish society and American society has been troublesome for youths conceived in the United States. Nessah synagogue is a spot where individuals come to interact with each other through the different programs; however, I could tell that instructing the youth is among the primary objectives given vast attention. Additionally, it also gives a wide range of sorts of projects such as women’s gatherings and care groups. Definitely, Nessah synagogue has significant influence on religion but I decided to attend the Nessah Israel Young Professionals’ program because it is very popular in California. The synagogue is a place where Iranian Jews feel alive and in large numbers. Nessah’s timeline traces its services and customs to the Babylonians over 2,500yrs prior. Field Research Methods Based on the nature of activities in the synagogue, I deemed participant observation as the most suitable research method. This gave a better glance and understanding of the formalities as compared to systematic observation that would not have given detailed information for the most crucial parts. During the prayer service, I observed two groups of participants, i.e. the facilitator and those attending the service. This assisted in countering the common problems of systematic observation such as redundancy and reactivity. Similarly, the NIYP session had multiple groups of people (facilitators, alumni, parents, visitors such as me among others). Observing their gestures, facial expressions, movement among others were part of focus. Relatively, attributes of the events’ environments were inclusive as they also dictate a lot about the Jewish Religion. Throughout the events, I took notes keeping in mind sections that could compare to practices from my religion and culture. Involvement and collective participation was at a minimum as I was keen to ensure that my research did not lose objectivity. For instance, other formal activities could have provided significant information but particular focus on the daily service prayer and NIYP was comprehensive enough. On the other hand, conversation analysis also applied since both events encouraged social interactions. These sessions gave platforms where I embraced both verbal and non-verbal conduct of the participants. I focused on integrating analysis of casual conversations and interactions based on Nessah as a synagogue and the prevalent practices in both events. Obviously, despite both services focusing on Jewish development, there are activities that stand out in both acting as an influence in the participants’ conversations. Moreover, the NIYP event centered on the youth but the daily prayers service has not central aspect. Narrative Description of the Cultural Activity The daily prayer service did not consume much time but had different sections. This took place in one of the Nessah synagogue’s major halls. Upon my arrival, around five minutes past the starting time, one of the members was addressing the congregation in English though some of the words were in Hebrew. He was motivating the congregation through testimonials and scriptures even without hearing his voice one could speculate his actions through the constant raising of hands, frequent movement and pauses as he asked for responses from the audience. After this, the priest preached to us for a few minutes and then asked everyone to hold hands for prayer. Prior to starting the prayer session, people shared prayer requests. After prayers and the priest had left the hall, people had time to interact in a place of their choice, i.e. the hall, while walking to the next event etc. I interacted with one of the participants as we walked to the NIYP fun day held next to the synagogue. Based on my analysis, Lila and the general community see the NIYP program was the most promising and formed the basis to establishing standard Jewish culture (Personal Communication, 29 October 2015). The Nessah Israel Young Professionals fun day had different activities, all of which focused on promoting the importance of Jewish culture to the youth and community. Everyone including the facilitators dressed casually. The alumni of NYIP addressed people at the beginning of the event giving short testimonials to depict the importance of the program and Jewish culture in general. This acted as the introduction and after their encouraging speeches; the lead facilitator announced the alumni were available for interactions throughout the remaining time. The field next to the synagogue had a number of tents with exhibitions prevalent in the Jewish culture. One of the tents had biblical and archeological evidence focusing on shrines and practices such as joining cults that made history. In another tent, a religious leader talked to a group of people on literary and theatrical expressions prevalent in Jewish culture. The focus was on lingual establishment of the Jewish culture with discussions on Hebrew and Yiddish. In this tent, I talked with Daniel who had recently enrolled to the program and was not fluent in Hebrew; the common use of English and Hebrew in Nessah Synagogue made Hebrew appear as a secondary language to the youth. However, as an observation, some of the adults attending the event could converse in Hebrew fluently. Daniel was very confident about the program and happy to have joined it as shown by his way of expression (Personal Communication, 29 October 2015). My Role As an ethnographer, I was the fundamental instrument of information gathering, which required me to invoke for acknowledgment by the Nessah community without simultaneously defying their practices or going ‘local’. Moreover, relative to my responsibility, I made sure that the analysis did not lose its objectivity. Given the nature of my methodology, I ensured that the roles as an observer and participant did not affect each other. My research throughout the events attained correspondence and reflexivity when comparing Nessah Synagogue’s practices with those from my religious background and culture. Toward the end of the study, I guaranteed that there was legitimate conclusion with consideration of the participants, and that associations with the two participants from the event ended neatly, amicably, and securely. The comprehensive participant role in the analysis had significant influence as it made me to have an ordeal as close as could be allowed to the Nessah community, religious practices and the Jewish culture. Engaging in their practices promoted a better understanding and insight on how the Jewish community interacts as compared to other religions. These differences are interesting and create the urge of conducting detailed research on significant facets. Moreover, I learnt that in such an analysis, fundamental drawback is ending up excessively linked with the participants or subject of research, which could affect the information investigation process, detectably as far as predisposition. Analysis Numerous families send their youngsters to Jewish school, with the goal that they can find out about the traditional Jewish way of life, yet numerous families do not profit, and others are not able to send their children to Jewish school. As a result, some youths are not able to find out about their way of life. Nessah synagogue facilitates this and I could tell by the turn up for the event that it is very influential particularly through the participant’s excitement and reception of information. The NIYP safeguards, ensures, thrives and instructs the youth in Beverly Hills’ community. Based on my understanding and observations, the program explores today’s youth about social issues, political issues and other prevalent issues for such a group using Jewish practices as the key influence. By bringing more youthful eras into its projects, and demonstrating to them the center of their way of life, Nessah is keeping the Iranian Jewish society alive. Nessah maintains the way of life of the Iranian Jewish individuals. Essentially teaching the adolescent conserve, the conventions that the Iranian Jewish individuals are subject to acclimation despite being are in the United States now. Nessah’s emphasis on character could not compare to any other project and the alumni testimonials confirmed this. I believe that the personality of the Iranian Jew is the most imperative thing to Nessah, and it has much more influence in saving it for the future that why they have put so much focus on the youth as the target group. Area of Further Research Generally, life in the United States is altogether different for Iranian Jewish individuals from how life was in Iran. In Iran, the Iranian Jewish individuals did not have religious opportunity after the downfall, so a hefty portion of them could not keep their traditions and conventions. Nevertheless, as exercised by the synagogue, the Iranian Jews can hone their religion. Thus, life in United States is more dynamic, which has permitted the Iranian Jewish individuals to develop and change. Nessah sees this as something constructive in light of the fact that it demonstrates that the Iranian Jewish individuals have not surrendered their own conventions and traditions, despite the fact that they are a long way from home. There is additionally a duality of citizenship in Nessahs gathering, where the Iranian folks go to one sanctuary, while their American children go to another sanctuary. However, even though the focus is on the youths some of the immigrants abandon the religion but Nessah barely gives attention to this. The western culture influences and hindrances to the Jewish traditions, even for some of the youths, are not prevalent as an issue. The main query is whether, for such people, Nessah tries to integrate the two so that the youth and other people abandoning the religion can embrace the Jewish way of life. This is among the few areas requiring detailed research such as attendance of other programs, conversing with some of Nessah’s leaders and understanding the adult perspective of the synagogue. Bibliography (Y, Lila. Personal Communication, 29 October 2015) (A, Daniel. Personal Communication, 29 October 2015) Read More