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Loudoun Jewish Congregation
10 Cardinal Park Drive
Leesburg, VA
703-737-6500

by Donna Principe

An Encounter with Judaism

My first impression of the Loudoun Jewish Congregation (LJC) in Leesburg, VA was of a big, happy family. As I entered, they were just breaking down the tables and chairs from the preceding potluck dinner. They rent space in a business complex so their synagogue is very basic. The walls were adorned by drawings the children made to celebrate the High Holidays. There were filled bookshelves, an altar, an eternal flame, and the Ark that houses the Torah. People were milling about, talking amongst themselves. Adults were dressed casually and many children were in pajamas. Debbie Immerman greeted me warmly. She stated this was a family service and Rabbi Jason Miller, a senior rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary, would read children’s story prior to the Shabbat service. Rabbi Miller interns with LJC and will be ordained in May of 2004. 

The first story was Bim and Bom. It tells two kids spending all week doing good deeds and mitzvot then coming to synagogue meet and relax. I was very touched that Rabbi Miller shared his childhood memories of this book. He and the children also sang a song by the same name. I was all ready for service to start when Rabbi Miller offered the children another story – Does God Have a Big Toe? This one was a big hit, too. Following the story the children led the adults in a rendition of the song Shalom Shabbat. This was a very nice bridge to the main service.

The congregation received prayer books – to me an odd sight, opening left to right. Then a woman – bestill my good Catholic heart – began to lead the service. She was dressed nicely, but wore no special clothing. This was a big difference from the priest in the Catholic Mass who wears colorful, ornamental robes. She wore a small lace head covering. Preceding the service, I was informed that women were not required to wear a head covering to services, but could choose to do so. The exception is when you are asked to read from the Torah. Then the head covering is required.

Much of the service was in Hebrew. This was not a deterrent to following along, as the prayer book included Hebrew writing, the Hebrew translation, and an English translation. Much of the service was in Hebrew and in song. The leader spoke and we responded, we read on our own, we sang, and we responded to each other men to women and vice-versa. We stood up, we sat down, mostly we faced the altar and the Ark, but at one point we were asked to turn around and face the door. I tried to remember to ask why we did that, but I forgot. Some of the members bowed several times at certain points in the service and some said the Mourner’s Kaddish, which I was looking for because we discussed it in class. There were two major items that stood out to me:

1. The distraction level – the Rabbi was wandering up and down the bookshelves scanning the titles and at one point he reminded the leader to do something, children were running around and being loud, and many of the congregants were holding conversations totally unrelated to the service. This was quite unsettling to me. There is no noise in the Catholic service beyond the mass itself. I have seen my priest stop mass and state that he would not proceed further until all were quiet.

2. Many of the prayers and responses sounded very familiar to me. The words were different, but the message was the same. Also, the cadence with which the responses were given was almost identical to the responses at mass.

Instead of a homily, the rabbi chose to share poetry that he felt reflected the time period. (I attended the Shabbat Shuvah right between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.) He reminded the congregants that he expected them to be loud and lively – if they were in a larger synagogue, some people would be standing, some would be sitting, some would be loud, some would be soft, but all would be engaging in active debate. I did not the poems, so the people behind me spoke about the service. With one of the members, I could see that underlying urge to debate. I stated that the prayers were similar to my Catholic prayers. He responded that if I could just forget that Jesus fellow, the two religions were practically identical. I was very amused. The Rabbi acknowledged that poems meaning in the translation from Hebrew to English. Then it was back to the service.

Prior to leaving, there was dessert and I was actively encouraged to partake. I squelched the urge to ask for “a bagel and a schmear.” Stacy Immerman entertained all my questions. She explained the purpose of the eternal flame, that all of the Torah did not fit in the Ark, so they had to make sure it was covered well, that the plastic cover on the Torah had no real meaning – they had a leak, and that the word Adonai meant God. I had previously heard that word, but not it’s meaning. The man I spoke with earlier asked if I understood what Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur meant. Quickly, I replied the Jewish New Year and the Day of Atonement. He informed me that God opens up the book of life on Rosh Hashanah and closes it ten days later on Yom Kippur. If you have not atoned for your sins and are not written in the book by then, you are toast the following year. I smiled, gave a little laugh, and thought to myself – If I don’t make it before God shuts the book, my Jesus will come along and forgive me! With that, I thanked everyone and took my leave from a very positive experience. I would visit again - A regular service where they take out the Torah, to erase my one disappointment with this experience. 

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