During our SFC Household, we began to discuss the difficulty of the cultural differences here in Israel. Somewhere in the conversation, this topic came up: In Jewish culture, why do men sit apart from the women? Why do the men come first at the synagogue? One of the SFC sisters asked this question to her employer upon having a discussion about Christians and Jews. Her employer simply explained that it’s not to discriminate. Women spend their whole day taking care of the children, cooking for the family, cleaning and serving the household in so many ways. So the men, in turn, serve the family in prayer. They sit separately because the men must come earlier to the synagogue to pray for their families. Women later follow after they finish their tasks at home and rest and then join the men in prayer at the synagogue.
When she explained this, I felt amazed because all these years, I thought it was just out of hierarchy. But in reality, the reason being is because it’s their way of serving their families, and it is in PRAYER. It then reminded me of the service culture of our own community. We all have different ways of serving one another. And even beyond the community, different cultures and races have different ways of serving others. At the end of the day, we are all unified in service through the intention of LOVING ONE ANOTHER. To truly be Christ-like is to see this intention in others, and to pull away from judgement (which in fact, tends to be the main cause of division – JUDGEMENT and resultingly, PRIDE). Upon this discussion, I realized one thing…
Why are we always encouraged to talk to everyone, or mingle?
At first, I thought that the reason is so that we can challenge ourselves to truly move out of our comfort zones so that others may know that we are approachable… that we are available. But after the household, I realized it can also be something very simple. It is not so much to show others how approachable we are or to show them that we are available, but to also allow ourselves to increase our scope of seeing the Lord wherever we are. And it is also to break the limits of where we see God.
“God is Good,
All the time!
All the time,
God is Good!
God is where?
EVERYWHERE!
And everywhere,
God is there!”
If we truly believe God is EVERYWHERE, then this realization must be true. Jewish or Catholic, the truth stands…
We are all capable of LOVE.
When we remove all judgement, all that rests is peace, love, hope, and respect for one another. And in that love, we become one in the Lord, Who is Love.
Baruch Hashem!
(Praise be to God!)
…Even in the Jewish language, there is a way to PRAISE THE LORD (haha) !!!
TOTUS TUUS.