Reflections on a Visit to the Solel Congregation

By Helen Tazzman

Every year, the Solel Congregation in Mississauga invites the various Christian churches in the area to a special Friday evening Shabbat service. The aim is to promote good relations through understanding between Christians and Jews. The action of the Jewish congregation is a reminder of the Sermon on the Mount: Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.

On February 3, 2006, in company with a friend from St. Thomas À Becket Anglican Church, I participated in a worship tradition that would have been familiar to Jesus. The rabbi welcomed us with the ancient greeting, “Shabbat Shalom.” Then we were taught a hymn in Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament. Throughout the service, the hearty congregational singing,
led by Rabbi Englander and a young assistant on guitars, may well have been the envy of many of the Christian pastors present.

Other features of the service reminded me of the continuity of worship from ancient Israel to the modern Anglican Church. The kindling of the Shabbat Lights was similar to the lighting of the candles on the altar. The rabbi pointed out that Jesus had recited the Sh’ma, the Creed that appears in the Book of Common Prayer. The word, “Sh’ma” (Hear), is the beginning of the
declaration of faith: Hear, O Israel, Adonai (the Lord) is our God, Adonai is One. The reading of Psalms was a feature of worship in the temple at Jerusalem, modern synagogues and in our own church. The Roman Catholic and High Anglican genuflect and low Anglican bow to the altar arises out of the Jewish practice of both bending the knee and bending at the waist in succession in acknowledgement of the sovereignty of God. Our remembrance of the dead in our prayers arises from the Mourner’s Kaddish.

In the Jewish prayer book, Paths of Prayer, Prayers for Shabbat, which I subsequently bought, I discovered this illuminating prayer, Creator of all the worlds, not in reliance upon the righteousness of our deeds do we place our longings before You; we look instead to Your abundant mercy. Doesn’t that sound like the words of the Anglican prayer, not trusting in our own righteousness? That prayer should lay to rest any misconception that Jewish people think that they are justified by the works of the Law. Rather, they follow the Law out of love and respect for God. Like us, they rely on Divine grace.

Worshipping among Jesus’ living relatives in a way that Jesus would have worshipped was a moving and unforgettable experience.