Ritual Scenography: Temple Beth El

An observation report while pursuing a master’s degree in ritual scenography

Dear Michael and Samantha,

Please find below a summary of my experience report from Temple Beth El in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 

I uploaded the digital artefacts separately; those files are raw and voluminous as I was documenting the experiment comprehensively for future analysis. 

I confirm that Rabbi Goodman gave her permission (see attached: Informed Consent_Goodman) to use these materials in support of my thesis.

Finally, as agreed, I intend to submit a draft of Chapter 5 (which will include insights from this report) by the end of the month.

Kind regards,

Deborah

I arrive at 8.30am and join Rabbi Goodman (RG) in her office. She is watching through the window as protesters assemble across the street in the park along the Susquehanna River. She says they had already managed to drop litter. I estimated about forty people at that time.

RG asks if I knew about the attack at Temple Beth Shalom (the Reform temple, five miles from Beth El) on 13 September, four weeks prior, and I said that I did. She feared today’s protest might become aggressive or even violent – that they might storm the Temple. Security staff were meeting in an adjacent office and would be briefing her shortly.

The Rabbi asks me questions about my programme, my thesis and my supervisors. (I talked briefly about both of you – nothing bad, I promise!) Looking again out the window, she asked:

RG: I’m curious. Can you explain how this morning’s ritual could possibly change what is happening in the world – even this (she gestured toward the protesters).

DM: Explain it? No, but I know it can happen.

RG: Hypotheses non fingo. (a reference to Newton, trans. I frame no hypotheses)

DM: I think it’s physical laws we don’t yet understand.

RG: So, it’s not a miracle?

She said this jokingly. The Rabbi is not a theist and most of the Beth El congregation self-report as agnostic or agnostic-atheist. (Goodman, L. (2005). Non-theistic prayer in a House of God. Journal of Reconstructionist Judaism, 3(1).)

Sam Levitch (SL), in charge of security, then entered and briefed the Rabbi on the protesters and the security protocols (Recording 5). He closed with:

SL: If I believe it’s necessary, I’m deploying the weapons. That’s my call.

RG: You don’t think we should get the children out of here, now? This isn’t irresponsible?

They both looked over at me – younger than them by at least fifteen years, and a student – as though I had some wisdom on the matter, which made me feel anxious and uncomfortable. 

I turned to the large screen on the wall, on which the Master of Scenarios (MS) had been dormant since I entered the room. I took three slow and deliberate steps toward the screen to signal that I was about to engage the MS, and its eyes opened.

DM: What do you think?

MS: No, I don’t think you should remove the children, and no, I do not believe this is irresponsible. Would you like me to elaborate?

The appearance and tone of voice for the MS are customisable by the user. The Rabbi and representatives of the congregation designed this MS about one year ago, following advice from Roger Cohen (2007), resulting in an androgynous face and voice (See sample: Recording 22).

DL: Yes, please tell us more.

MS then presented a portion of a presentation that I knew well:

Today’s ritual is an important experiment as we are gaining experience and insights on our fundamental strategy for improving upon our world. While we do not understand the phenomenon well, evidence suggests that changing core mythic narratives can result in changes in the world. Changes that happen not over the course of generations, but in moments. We know our ritual can be dangerous, that exploration and experimentation have risks. The alternative, however, is to defer to the brutal tendencies of human nature. This is our approach toward building a peaceful and just world.

The Rabbi smiled – she knew this text, as do I – and mentioned how she would be repeating similar words when she spoke to the youths and their parents, assembled downstairs. Mr. Levitch had a sceptical expression. He grimaced and left the office. (I have yet to interview Mr. Levitch.)

The Rabbi escorted me to Sisterhood Hall, the large assembly room on the lower level of the building. Twenty-one young men and young women, ages thirteen to eighteen, were gathered, and about twelve adults, presumably parents. There was nervous energy in the room, with chatting and some laughter. When they saw the Rabbi enter, they quieted and took their seats.  I sat in the back row while the Rabbi addressed the group (See: Recording 23). She spoke and took questions for about thirty minutes. Here are three key moments:

RG:

We, your families and community, we need each other’s help. My generation is not going to solve this. Today you are transitioning into adulthood. You have all attended Bar or Bat Mitzvahs of your older brothers and sisters and neighbours. These were important rituals, of course. However, they were primarily symbolic. Our ritual – today’s ritual – is functional. Its purpose is to help change the world…

We believe that a root cause of the horrors in the world is a terrible story – the story of the Golden Calf. Today, you will participate in changing that story. You will bravely participate in that story as if transported into the past. And when you return, the world may be different in small or large ways…

You have been studying and practicing for the past nine weeks or more, and I know you are ready and excited, and I am proud of all of you. I am proud of your creativity and your diligence. Each of you is a unique experiment of the cosmos and you can each therefore make an important contribution…

Following the Rabbi’s presentation, the group exits the hall, single file, walks up the south staircase and into the sanctuary. (The parents observe via screens in the anteroom). In the sanctuary, twenty-five individual ritual units (IRUs) are equally spaced, one for each participant and four in reserve in case of technical problems.

Notebook entry: Temple Beth El was fitted with IRUs two years ago, after the community took occupancy from a Conservative congregation. This was the second such temple established, the first being Wyncote, outside Philadelphia.

The youths situate themselves into their IRUs and run preliminary tests to confirm proper operation. Full specifications are on our server. Key components include the following:

[a] The Tallit is a neural net that senses movement and provides haptic feedback (see specification 121). 

[b] The Yarmulke is the interface, which connects the tallit to a shaved area on top of the head. (Initially, the entire head was shaved, but now just four square centimetres are shaved. This has increased participation.) 

[c] The Tefillin are transceivers (see specification 143) and hypodermic devices (see specification 162).

There are two kinds of psycho-physiological input: electromagnetic stimulation through the Yarmulke and pharmacological agents introduced through the Tefillin.

I follow the Rabbi as she moves from one unit to another to check the readiness of the equipment – and for a final check-in with each participant. With all units and participants ready, the ritual proceeds.

A large screen at the front of the sanctuary mirrors smaller screens in each unit, showing the Master of Scenarios (MS), the ritual facilitator.

MS begins the ritual with a chanted prayer that induces the prescribed state of consciousness. The sound from MS controls the technologies in the IRUs.

The English translation of the MS’s prayer is as follows:

The story of the Golden Calf

God, Moses and the Levites

Massacre those celebrating

Family and neighbours

Three thousand killed

Prefiguring untold horrors

You are now transported

To the base of Mount Sinai

To change the story

Here now comes Moses

Descending the mountain

Carrying two tablets

Messages from God

You may now proceed

During the induction, Mr. Levitch enters the sanctuary and approaches the Rabbi. He says the protest group has grown to about two-hundred and he fears they might attack the temple. He describes some of the signs, banners and chants that he heard, the common theme being that Jews control the world. He says he will distribute weapons and take position with his team. He then quickly exits.

(I was distracted by Mr. Levitch. When I returned my attention to the participants they had already begun their engagement.)

I move between the units to watch and listen. Most are whispering at a rapid pace, which I understand is common. It is difficult to know the details of these ecstatic experiences. Data includes post-ritual debriefs, but we rely primarily on recordings of the eye and finger movements and their voice. 

Notebook entry: Over the past nine weeks, the participants have been creatively engaging the golden calf story, imagining how they might change the story so that it reflects their own cosmology and morality. They have been encouraged to think for themselves and the training programme rigorously avoids promoting particular ideas.

Here, I provide selected highlights from what I observed and heard.

“Moses, you are dangerously intoxicated with God.”

“Moses, are too dangerous to live among us – we must defend ourselves from you.”

“Moses, you may come no further.”

“You are forever banished to Mount Sinai.”

“You will forever walk up and down Mount Sinai.”

“You will carry our new stories to God – to the top of Sinai.”

“You will bring us God’s replies.”

“You will forever live this life of repentance.”

“You will forever repent for killing the three thousand.”

“Moses, here are our stories.”

“Moses, hear our stories.”

“Moses, take these stories to God.”

About an hour into the ritual, the Rabbi approaches me and asks what I was thinking. I say that there seems to be a coordinated approach among the participants. She says that was indeed the case; they decided to collaborate. 

She later shared a summary presentation (which was not required or requested) of their preparations. Here is an excerpt:

“We are Jewish heretics, like Spinoza. In our story, after the massacre, Moses and the Levites are arrested and placed on trial. Moses is banished to Sinai and the Levites are sworn to protect those who celebrate around the golden calf. That is what we believe we will be doing during the ritual – celebrating around the golden calf. And Moses will now and forever go up and down Mount Sinai carrying our messages to God, delivering our changes to the story. Beth El is like a medieval scriptorium, but instead of copying old stories we create new ones that intend to improve the world through dialogue and negotiation, including with God – by which we mean, the energies and mechanisms of the cosmos.”

The ritual lasted about ninety minutes after which time the participants disconnected from their units. They went back down into Sisterhood Hall for the initial debrief (see full transcript in the appendix). The Rabbi concluded with:

This is our new ritual. We do not know exactly how, but we do know that changing the story can indeed change the world. We don’t know which stories might work best. And so we live lives of exploration and experimentation. That’s what the world needs and that is what our community intends.

Mr. Levitch then comes into the hall, walks to the podium and whispers to the Rabbi, who then waves to me to follow. The three of us go to the Rabbi’s office and look out the window. The crowd of protesters is gone, as though never there. Even the litter is gone.