On one hand, much of the prayers and the Torah reading have a musical component much the same as in Catholic churches. On the other hand, there are no hymns in Jewish services at all, only actual prayers. In Catholic (and other Christian) services, there are hymns that are sung by the choir and by the congregation in addition to the actual prayers. It seemed to me that something in that respect was "missing" in the Jewish services and it seemed that it was less of a communal feeling once the actual services started than I am accustomed to with Catholic Services.
Philosophical Differences
From my understanding, Jews do not believe in Heaven and Hell per se, although they do believe that their actions on earth are judged by God. I was surprised to learn that some Jews do believe in Heaven and Hell while others do not. Their teachings about human morality focus more on the quality of actions in life than on their effect on the individual afterwards. In general, Jews believe that God does reward and punish but in a much more general and undefined sense than those concepts are taught in the Christian traditions. Some Jews believe only that God will reward those who deserve reward in the afterlife with resurrection by the Messiah when he arrives in the future.
Jews do not believe in the concept of Original Sin and believe that the moral quality of their lives is determined by their actions on earth. In that regard, the Bar Mitzvah ceremony actually marks the transition from the pre-moral responsibility period of life to the stage of moral responsibility. According to Jewish teachings, children younger that twelve years of age (for women) or thirteen years of age (for men) are not responsible for their sins. Their parents are responsible until the Bat Mitzvah at twelve (for girls)...
The Torah details 613 commandments of which 365 are negative restrictions and 248 are positive deeds.
Jewish religious tradition and law greatly emphasize the value of human life; they believe that any person who saves a single human life has accomplished the equivalent of saving the entire world. Orthodox Jews in particular believe that procreation is their most important function and that any parents who have ten children automatically qualify for the highest regard in the eyes of God with respect to the afterlife. In fact, that is precisely why very orthodox Jews typically have such large families. I must admit that the concept of focusing more on good deeds and the moral value of our actions on earth does have an intellectual appeal to me that is more rational than the idea of human beings being inherently flawed before they have any chance to live their lives at all.
I was unable to follow along any of the prayers because they were all in Hebrew; I did not realize that I could have requested a prayer book with English translations and phonetic spelling until after the ceremony when I reunited with my girlfriend. To me, the overall tone of the Jewish service seemed somewhat less joyous than the tone of religious ceremonies of my faith. I would characterize the experience of Catholic worship as more uplifting whereas the Jewish services seemed more austere and solemn, at least from my perspective. Nevertheless, I would have to say that there was also a commonality to the overall experience that left me with a greater appreciation for the role of religion and tradition in Judaism. It seems that to a great degree, religious worship serves very similar functions and roles in the lives of worshippers even in very different religious traditions.
