Carlton Wilcoxson - Day 5

First, we woke up and took a long walk to Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. Now, Abyssinian is the oldest Baptist chruch and its going to be around for a long while with the size of its congregation. There was even a line around the block of visitors at 9am, waiting in line for the 11am service! During the service, we watched the babies being blessed, listened to joyful songs and listened to Rev. Butts preaching his speech of Black empowerment. One of the messages I got was we as a people have to watch ourselves and take responsibilty because God is not going to do everything for us. All and all, for me, it was just another Sunday at a Baptist church.

Next, we travelled to Crown Heights which was amazing. I watched the grime filled streets of Brooklyn slowly because a series of well-kept streets in this shared Chasidic Jewish and African American community with businesses and people. We caught a celebration of the Torah scroll being finished. It takes a year to write a Torah and they celebrate the completion with songs and dancing in the streest. I then learned the values and lifestyles of Orthodox Jews. We visited the Temple, met scribes and had an open discussion about being Orthodox. I learned how marriages are arranged by the community. I learned how most traditions are meant to keep the people humble. All in all, this experience made me aware of the value of their practices and traditions. It was a great eye opening experience.