By Brady Palmer

As a part of the Faith in Action course, Helias Catholic seniors took a trip to their local synagogue. This experience aims to allow them to become more familiar with the customs and traditions of their Jewish brothers and sisters. They learned how they are similar, different, and other ways that they are unique to one another.

Skyler McGinty (12) expressed the difficulties of understanding some of the Jewish practices.

“Sometimes I can’t wrap my head around Jesus not being the Messiah and just a prophet. But that's just a way we’re different, and I was able to understand almost everything else,” McGinty said.

Differences were to be expected, and most of them were understandable for the class. But the Jewish teaching of the afterlife and having eternal life on earth was confusing to a majority of students.

“They talked about how they don’t believe in heaven and hell and that they would instead have eternal life on earth. That really caught me off guard, and I’m still confused by what that means,” McGinty said.

Even though Catholics and the Jewish faith may have some distinct differences, this trip acted as a way for them to explore what makes the other unique while giving students a way to gain more respect and knowledge when it comes to the traditions of Judaism.