Tradition

I recently went to a religious ceremony where most of the language used was an ancient one with only some english interspersed. I had to follow the prayers and readings in the prayer book where there were english translations on one page. The two men leading the service occasionally turned and faced the wall, with their backs to us. Many of the prayers used in this ceremony go back centuries. A box of head coverings was kept at the entrance for anyone wishing to wear them, and most did. The stained glass windows showed a vivid history of the revelation of God, and some people walked around admiring them before the start of the ceremony. The readings from the Bible were small fragments, not long passages. This ceremony was a bat mizvah, and I am glad there were no liturgists around to complain about all those things they would have considered 'wrong'.