The Synagogue

I am ignorant about Jewish culture I'll admit it the closest thing I have to a window into their society is a friend with a "jew-fro".  His mom is Jewish but he is as atheistic as I am.  The only real thing that might distinguish him as a member of the Jewish community, which I'm not really sure you can consider him, is the aforementioned hair, an astounding addiction to bagels and, at the risk of being called racist, he is a bit stingy with his money.  Like I said ignorant.  Well last Tuesday that changed, at least a little bit, at the very least I wore a yamakah for the first time, that has got to count for something right.  All jokes aside though I was astounded at how little I actually knew about the Jewish religion.  To quantify my lack of knowledge there were more than Six Hundred and Thirteen things I didn't know about Judaism since that is apparently how many rules govern the life of a practicing Jew (known as the Mitzvah), not to mention I wasn't even aware what the holiday Hanukkah was a celebration of, and I generally pride myself on being a knowledgeable and cultured person.  For those of you who are in the boat I was formally in it celebrates the supposed miracle of an oil lamp burning for eight days in the Temple of Jerusalem signifying that it had been reconsecrated after it was desecrated by the Syrians.  I know right, and I thought it had something to do with an animated Adam Sandler film.  Another thing that kind of blew me away was the level of secrecy.  I am accustomed to being able to walk into nearly any church with so much as a smile.  The synagogue is protected by a mean looking metal fence, along with some not so friendly security guards, in fact when we were supposed to return at 4 o'clock he almost didn't let me back in.  The security is merely a symptom though, there continues to be a lot of animosity towards the Jewish faith and these walls are for protection, but there is a fine line between keeping others out and keeping yourself in, it is possible they are inextricable.  One incident on our tour that I found fascinating was when our guide related to us that the pope abstained from referring to Israel as anything but the Holy Land, choosing not to recognize it as a nation.  I agree with him, at least to a degree, the formation of Israel, while good in its intentions, was something the United Nations did not have the authority to grant nor the foresight to see the obvious repercussions.  I am merely hypothesizing but I think the decision was largely influenced by emotions still running high after WWII.  That said I do not have a better solution, at least the Jews who fight and die for Israel are dieing for their country, perhaps something can be said of tha