2.3.1 Physical Arrangements

Worshippers in Eretz Yisrael face towards Jerusalem. Worshippers in Jerusalem face towards the Temple Mount, where the Temple (Beit Hamikdash) once stood. The Holy Ark in every synagogue is generally located so that when one faces the Ark, one is also standing in proper direction, vis-à-vis Israel, Jerusalem, or the Temple Mount (Donin 1980: 71).

The meeting place and haven of the type ℷ (gimel) group is its synagogue. It can be installed in a special house, or in the cellar of a leader. Its most obvious ritual item is the aron kodesh, the Holy Ark (Donin 1972: 193-194, De Vries 1968: 68). This closet holds the real treasure of any synagogue, the sifrei Torah, the Scrolls of Torah, covered by a curtain, parokhet. Outside Jerusalem the Holy Ark is placed against or in a wall towards Jerusalem. In Jerusalem it is placed at the wall towards the Wailing Wall (Waanders 1998), the Western Wall with the last stones of the Herodian temple, the most holy place of Judaism.

An Eternal Light, ner talmid, is placed above the ark, in front of it. Another ritual item is an angled table, shulhan, the biema, on which the Torah is carefully laid, rolled open and read to the congregation. From behind it the cantor leads the service and the honoured reader reads from the scroll. Behind the table is a bench for the liturgist and others who participate in leading the service. On the wall above it hangs a huge shofar, a horn, ritually prepared and shaped.

The special Biblical precept that is most identified with Rosh Hashana is the blowing of the shofar. It is a religious duty on this day to listen to the shofar sounds ... a total of 100 notes are sounded” (Donin 1972: 245). „The conclusion of Yom Kippur is marked by a single long blast of the shofar. It is symbolic of „when the ram's horn sounded long...” which marked the conclusion of the Revelation on Sinai (Exodus 19:13)” (Donin 1972: 249).

Who is familiar with the interior of Catholic churches will easily detect similarities with the synagogue. ²⁴The particular similarity and difference between the Catholic church and the synagogue, as well as their ancient painful relationship, finds expression in a legion of jokes. The following a Messianic leader told:

During the Medieval time a pope planned to expel the Jews from Rome. The Jewish leadership petitioned. He agreed to allow them to stay if they found one Jew who could outwit him in a spiritual discussion. Since they regarded the case hopeless, yet still wanted to leave no stone unturned, the Jewish leaders decided that a Jew, who had no reputation to loose whatsoever, should face this unequal duel. So they asked Moishele their street sweeper to stand in for his fellow-Jews. He agreed on the condition that the dispute would be held without speaking even a single word. Again the Pope agreed, on the condition that he would have the first word. Moishele was content with this, too.

When the great day came, the Pope and Moishele took seat on a podium. The Roman Curie and the Jewish leaders stood on either side to witness the dispute. The Pope began and raised his hand high, showing three stretched fingers. Moishele answered instantly, shook his head and stretched out one finger above his head. Now the pope drew a circle with his hand above his head. Again Moishele answered in an instant, shook his head and pointed with his finger to the ground in front of his feet. Finally the pope took out wavers and a goblet. Instantly Moishele reclined in his chair and brought forth an apple from his garment. The Pope jumped to his feet and shouted: „I quit! You can't beat that man. The Jews may stay!”

The stunned Curie surrounded their pope, asking what this all meant. „First I lifted three fingers to show the Trinity. But he raised one, because God is of course still only one. Next I drew a circle above my head to depict God's omnipresence. Yet he correctly pointed to the ground between us, correctly insisting that God was really present also right here. Finally I took out the wavers and the goblet to testify for Christ's atonement of sins. Yet he too knew he knew better, relaxed and took out the apple to speak to me of genuine sin. There is nothing to reply. The Jews may stay.”

Also Moishele was besieged with questions. „Well,” said he, „first the Pope lifted three fingers to tell me we had three days to leave. I lifted one to tell him that we would not even leave one single day. Then he waved his hand over his head that we had to leave from everywhere. I pointed in front of me to tell him that we would stay right here. When he gave up and took out his lunch, I also got out mine, the apple.”

Like many jokes this one also thrives on the ambiguity of symbols and unresolved differences. While the Pope treats creeds, Moishele is after concrete deeds. Thereby the most simple of the Jewish community outwits the most outstanding Christian authority. Real communication happens on a high level on the grounds of mis-communication on different levels. The practical Jewish concern surpasses the theoretical Christian one. The great famous Pope loses, the little unknown Jew wins. Miraculously the Pope must give in. The joke reminds one of Moses facing the pharaoh, where his and the wizard's sticks transform into snakes, yet Moses' snake eats up all the others. He has the stronger magic. ) In the Catholic church the traditionally obvious central ritual item is the tabernacle, also a closet, which holds the „Most Holy”, the Eucharistic bread, wafers which for the Catholic believers represent the body of Christ (John 6:51). In the Messianic Jewish synagogue, the Torah scroll has a comparable function, symbolizing Jesus, „וְהַדָּבָר לָבַשׁ בָּשָׂר” (הַבְּרִית הַחֲדָשָׁה, Hebrew English New Testament John 1:14), „the Word became flesh” (John 1:14 NIV). Also, in the Catholic church, the tabernacle is marked with an eternal light. In the synagogue it refers to the ever burning seven-armed chandelier, the menorah, in the ancient Jerusalem temple.

In Catholic processions, a waver in a special container can be carried through the ranks of believers. Worshippers honour it by kneeling down when it passes by and by making a symbol of the cross with their hand over their forehead, chin and breast. In the synagogue, the

Torah is kissed when it passes by in the synagogue. ...it is often done by extending a hand to touch the Torah mantle and then kissing the hand. Some touch the Torah with the edge of at tallit and then kiss the tallit (Donin 1980: 43).

They touch the Torah mantle, an adorned fabric that covers the scroll, with the siddur, a Bible, shawl or finger tips, which they then kiss. This indirect kissing is an expression of affection and religious devotion (idem). The Torah scroll symbolises a double visitation of the Jewish people by God, first that he gave the Torah to Moses, and second that „the Word” became incarnated in Jesus. As Torah is written on parchment, it got first written on animals” skin, but with Jesus it went into a human skin, so to speak. Finally, they believe the Torah gets written on the hearts of the believer.

The altar in the Catholic church serves mainly to prepare the symbol of the body and death of Christ, the wavers and wine for the communion of the believers, to bring them into communion with their risen Lord. In the synagogue, the biema serves to unroll the Torah scroll. To Messianic Jews the scroll symbolises the incarnated Messiah. The believers read from it „words of life” through which they have communion with the God of Israel and his Messiah.

The spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63 NIV).

Some called the Catholic church a church of the sacrament, referring to the material substances like the wafers, and the Protestant churches, churches of the word, referring to the centrality of the Bible and the preaching. In Protestant churches, the traditional place is often the pulpit from which sermons are delivered. In its physical setup the synagogue appears similar to a Catholic church. Yet its use appears Protestant, as the reading from the „word”, the Torah, has central importance in the service. Bread and wine are in the synagogue a normal occurrence during Sabbaths and by Messianic Jews connected to Jesus similarly as communion in churches. On the verge between synagogue and church, the Messianic Jewish approach to Scripture and bread and wine and has elements of both, Judaism and Protestantism. The synagogal liturgy compares with the Catholic, but the interpretation of the physical arrangements, artefacts and ritual compares with Protestantism. This combination makes the Messianic Jewish synagogue appear like a kind of a bridge between otherwise unbridgeable Catholic and Protestant perceptions. ²⁵The discussion around the „royal intercommunion” (Brico 1998: 3) during the ecumenical wedding of the Protestant Dutch prince Maurits and his Catholic bride Marilène, on 2^nd June 1998 in Apeldoorn, refreshed the awareness about and the validity of this ancient and classic gap between the two churches.)

No Messianic synagogue that I saw had the traditional women's section, ezrat nashim, which 'follows the pattern established in the ancient Temple of Jersualem” (Donin 1972: 194). The traditional synagogue has two „departments”, one for men and one for women. The one for women can be a veranda, balcony or room behind a screen, above, behind or aside the room for the men. (De Vries 1968: 17). In contrast to Orthodox worshippers, Messianic Jews feared no „dangers of nieuf” , that is „defiling” by women (Weiner 1961: 130-133, Sered 1992: 112-114). ²⁶Yet type ℸ (daleth) Israeli Messianic Jewish architects draw up modern synagogues with balconies. In case a group of Orthodox Jews would recognize Jesus as Messiah and join the congregation, for their sake the balcony could be used to comply with the tradition to have different rooms during worship for men and women.)

Optional, a candelabrum, menorah, can be found near the ark. A wall carpet displays a Bible verse calligraphy. A beautifully woodcarving adorns one wall, depicting Jesus and his disciples in the garden Gethsemane. Images of human figures are traditionally not allowed in a synagogue (Leymarie 1981: 12). When I asked about it, I got simply no answer. The display of such artefacts in a Messianic synagogue questions the official Halakha as contradicting Torah (5/97).

In a larger congregation, via a wireless installation various translators make it possible for visitors to follow the service in their language. Bookshelfs show a wealth of Siddurim, Bibles, Hebrew songbooks and even some Christian literature. Tables in the back of the meeting room are for the Sabbath meal that all share after the service. The kitschen is equipped according kashrut regulation, as most members observe kashrut and eat kosher.

Also at home type ℷ (gimel) believers need some ritual artefacts. Women have candlesticks for Friday eve. They light one candle for each member of the household. At this occasion the women speak a special blessing, and will wear a thin shawl on the head if they are married. The kitchen is kosher and has separated sections for dairy and for meat. The kitchen appears regarded a ritual artefact and the „women as ritual experts” (Sered 1992). I could not discern the use of the mikvah, the ritual bath (Buber 1984: 132, 166, 218, 333-336, 554), which is important for maintaining a pure marriage life (Donin 1972: 124-125, 136-139).

The man of the household has often a special Kiddush cup to say a blessing over wine on Sabbath, holidays and special life occasions. The Havdalah ritual that closes the Sabbath men should perform. It requires a special candle with a stick, a plate, a wine cup and a box for spices. For their personal piety men need a tallit katan with tzitzit, fringes, to be worn under the shirt. Not many Messianic Jews show the fringes, that is, if they wear a little tallit under their shirt at all, because Jesus ever criticised displaying them to impress others (Matthew 23:5). Individual piety is hidden, which is also a Hasidic ideal (Meijers 1989: 144-145). For prayer they need a tallit (Donin 1972: 155-159). For weekday prayers they need tefillin (Donin 1972: 144-152). Entrances in a house and many doors in the house require a mezuzah, a capsule with a Torah text placed at the door post (Donin 1972: 152-155). Jewish books could also be regarded as ritual objects. Furthermore, the various Jewish feasts require other ritual items, like a special Hanukkah chandelier (Donin 1972: 258-260), to mention at least one example.