what a scene! about 50 orthodox jews performing their morning prayer in the Winston Smoking Lounge (!) of Moskow Airport Terminal E, which is basically a 3x12m large glass box next to the gates 33 and 34. indeed, no fear of displaying their very specific identity - which makes most passerbys watch for some minutes. most, if not all of them, wear either a kippah or a black hat and a tallit, praying shawl, some this really awkward tefillin, i.e. two square leather boxes containing biblical verses, attached to the forehead and wound around the left arm by leather straps. most have full grown beards and beikeles, which are not at all cool, especially for those adolescent boys amongst them. but what unity! what a tribe! rereading Jewish observances online, I get the feeling, that these folks at least know where they belong to, their life organized by religious traditions from dawn to dusk and craddle to grave. but is religious fundamentalism any different from nationalism? if a group of people extends its sense of self beyond the individual at the expense of others, it lacks universal consciousness, and that is something modern man requires dearly. I don't know if he needs it more than a tribal identity though.
0 Comments
The Holy Service stems from a time when most people worked the fields and were illiterate, thus needed some intellectual – read: written – inspiration, but not at all any more physical exercise. Today, quite on the contrary, we are flooded with intellectual stimuli and want to turn off our minds if not at work. Our bodies on the other hand are mostly slump and yearn to be worked out. The setting for the Holy Service thus has changed fundamentally: modern services shall be inspirational work out classes. Our body is the temple of our soul. It is no surprise that the average Holy Service participants are 60+ and that Christian Yoga classes find increasing acceptance.
How to combine physical “Sunday exercise” with the sociological mitigating function of Holy Services – read: the mingling of different generations, young and old? Start with a simple common exercise, split up in age group exercises, and reunite exercises for old and young at certain times. Western Church shall learn from Chinese Daoisms that since its foundations 2000 years ago has core values of physical exercise embodied in taiji and qigong. Certain forms of taiji are demanding for the young and fit, others refreshing for the old and ailing. I would certainly attend service again, if a rabbi like Ben Stiller or a priest like Edward Norton in Keeping the Faith try their best to work out their audience with humor and wit. |
Categories
All
Archives
July 2023
|