I had a very interesting interfaith encounter this weekend. It was a visit to new Hindu Mandir in East Renfrewshire. What was so interesting about this visit was that the temple is located in a former orthodox synagogue which has recently closed and merged with another synagogue fairly close by. The Hindu community had been looking for a place of worship and were delighted to be able to lease the synagogue as a place already sacred and dedicated to prayer. The visit was organised by the West of Scotland Council of Christians and Jews and as well as members of the branch of CCJ a number of Jews who were members of the Reform Synagogue (now known as the Progressive Synagogue with the merger of Reform and Liberal Judaism) that is just behind the Mandir, curious to see how the synagogue had been adapted to the Hindu community’s needs.
Judaism and Hinduism are very different religions. Sometimes students of religious studies group religions by similar characteristics. One way of doing this – at least for Christians – is to think of them as displaying protestant and catholic traits. Protestant faiths would be Judaism, Islam and certain schools of Buddhism such as Zen. These religions have simple prayer rituals, are devoid of images and focus very much on the word. Catholic faiths on the other hand are usually more colourful, with images, smells and bells and a more stylised liturgy. Hinduism would come in to this category as would Tibetan Buddhism. As an orthodox synagogue the building in Newton Mearns would have had no images or colourful decoration, the Ark which housed the Torah Scrolls would have taken centre stage, the congregation would have been seated in pews and religious dress would have been a prayer shawl and kippah worn by men but not by women. As a Hindu Temple, the Ark and the Bimah or platform from which the Scriptures would have been read had been removed which gave an empty space in the middle of the temple and the focus was a highly decorated shrine with several statues of Hindu deities. I wondered how Jewish friends would feel about this change and thought some might feel uncomfortable. But no, the Jews who visited last Sunday were delighted to be there and very happy to make contact with the community. Perhaps this was because they came from the Reform Synagogue though some of them had attended services in that synagogue.
We entered the building through the main entrance which had Hebrew writing over it telling us “ Happy are those who dwell in Your house; they forever praise You”. We were very warmly welcomed by the President of the Mandir before taking off our shoes in the cloakroom and mounting the stairs to the temple itself. There were several people around and obvious preparations for events happening that afternoon, but the prayer space itself was empty as the formal worship, called puja, had not yet started. The pews from the synagogue surrounded the space where the community would be sitting on the floor, many of them carrying the names of members of the Jewish community whom I suppose had paid for that seat. It was not hard to imagine the spirit of those people and the energy of their prayers still being around and somehow adding to the energy and good will of the Hindu puja. Fanciful? Perhaps. I do believe that places of worship that have been prayed in for years and in some cases centuries do have an energy that comes from the faith of the worshippers and that all things are connected and interrelated in a way that reaches to the past as well as the present and future. It was not hard for me to imagine those members of the Jewish community embracing their Hindu brothers and sisters as they prayed.
There was time for dialogue and learning more about the community. We learned that the Hindu approach to God is two-fold – manifest and unmanifest. The manifest takes the form of pictures and statues as a focus for the mind but leads to an experience and sense of God as unmanifest, a Mystery acknowledged by all religions including Judaism and Christianity. The Mandir is called Mother Earth Temple which is so appropriate for the times we live in and reflects the Hindu connection to the earth which is regarded as a Sacred Goddess who is the mother of every form of life that has ever taken birth from her and has lived upon her. Whatever one’s background, and whatever name one knows God by, Mother Earth unites us. The community wants the temple to be a space for people of all faiths and none to pause, meditate and reflect, to re-establish unity while sharing and celebrating diversity.
Despite the strangeness and the differences between Hinduism and Judaism everyone felt very at home and began to see connections. Both religions follow a lunar calendar which means they are often celebrating festivals at the same time; both religions have a plethora of festivals and often these festivals last for days at a time; there is a perambulation round the shrine in Hinduism and round the Synagogue at the feast of Sukkot and Simcha Torah.
This year Sukkot takes place early in October. It celebrates a successful harvest and is a reminder of the time the Israelites spent in the desert after the Exodus. It is celebrated by building a sukkah - a temporary hut which has a roof made of plants, fruits or leaves, and families eat meals and spend time in it during the festival. There will be one outside the Reform Synagogue, so the rabbi promised an invitation to the Hindu community. They were delighted. This hopefully will be the beginning of a friendship and dialogue which I suspect will be unique in the world of interreligious dialogue. I look forward to seeing how it flourishes.
Judaism and Hinduism are very different religions. Sometimes students of religious studies group religions by similar characteristics. One way of doing this – at least for Christians – is to think of them as displaying protestant and catholic traits. Protestant faiths would be Judaism, Islam and certain schools of Buddhism such as Zen. These religions have simple prayer rituals, are devoid of images and focus very much on the word. Catholic faiths on the other hand are usually more colourful, with images, smells and bells and a more stylised liturgy. Hinduism would come in to this category as would Tibetan Buddhism. As an orthodox synagogue the building in Newton Mearns would have had no images or colourful decoration, the Ark which housed the Torah Scrolls would have taken centre stage, the congregation would have been seated in pews and religious dress would have been a prayer shawl and kippah worn by men but not by women. As a Hindu Temple, the Ark and the Bimah or platform from which the Scriptures would have been read had been removed which gave an empty space in the middle of the temple and the focus was a highly decorated shrine with several statues of Hindu deities. I wondered how Jewish friends would feel about this change and thought some might feel uncomfortable. But no, the Jews who visited last Sunday were delighted to be there and very happy to make contact with the community. Perhaps this was because they came from the Reform Synagogue though some of them had attended services in that synagogue.
We entered the building through the main entrance which had Hebrew writing over it telling us “ Happy are those who dwell in Your house; they forever praise You”. We were very warmly welcomed by the President of the Mandir before taking off our shoes in the cloakroom and mounting the stairs to the temple itself. There were several people around and obvious preparations for events happening that afternoon, but the prayer space itself was empty as the formal worship, called puja, had not yet started. The pews from the synagogue surrounded the space where the community would be sitting on the floor, many of them carrying the names of members of the Jewish community whom I suppose had paid for that seat. It was not hard to imagine the spirit of those people and the energy of their prayers still being around and somehow adding to the energy and good will of the Hindu puja. Fanciful? Perhaps. I do believe that places of worship that have been prayed in for years and in some cases centuries do have an energy that comes from the faith of the worshippers and that all things are connected and interrelated in a way that reaches to the past as well as the present and future. It was not hard for me to imagine those members of the Jewish community embracing their Hindu brothers and sisters as they prayed.
There was time for dialogue and learning more about the community. We learned that the Hindu approach to God is two-fold – manifest and unmanifest. The manifest takes the form of pictures and statues as a focus for the mind but leads to an experience and sense of God as unmanifest, a Mystery acknowledged by all religions including Judaism and Christianity. The Mandir is called Mother Earth Temple which is so appropriate for the times we live in and reflects the Hindu connection to the earth which is regarded as a Sacred Goddess who is the mother of every form of life that has ever taken birth from her and has lived upon her. Whatever one’s background, and whatever name one knows God by, Mother Earth unites us. The community wants the temple to be a space for people of all faiths and none to pause, meditate and reflect, to re-establish unity while sharing and celebrating diversity.
Despite the strangeness and the differences between Hinduism and Judaism everyone felt very at home and began to see connections. Both religions follow a lunar calendar which means they are often celebrating festivals at the same time; both religions have a plethora of festivals and often these festivals last for days at a time; there is a perambulation round the shrine in Hinduism and round the Synagogue at the feast of Sukkot and Simcha Torah.
This year Sukkot takes place early in October. It celebrates a successful harvest and is a reminder of the time the Israelites spent in the desert after the Exodus. It is celebrated by building a sukkah - a temporary hut which has a roof made of plants, fruits or leaves, and families eat meals and spend time in it during the festival. There will be one outside the Reform Synagogue, so the rabbi promised an invitation to the Hindu community. They were delighted. This hopefully will be the beginning of a friendship and dialogue which I suspect will be unique in the world of interreligious dialogue. I look forward to seeing how it flourishes.
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