When considering my options for religious sites, I decided to look for temples near me, as there are four different temples in my neighborhood. I found Temple Emanu-el, Congregation Beth Israel, Sephardic Congregation Shaare Ezra, and Temple Beth Shalom. Before this mission, I was unaware that there were different branches of Judaism and different temples for each of those branches to accommodate the specific beliefs of the people in Judaism. Before choosing which temple I was going to visit, I did my research on the differences between the four of them; to see where I should go for Friday night Shabbat and discovered that each temple belonged to different branches of Judaism. Temple Emanu-El was a conservative temple. Conservative Judaism means they maintain the idea that the Torah comes from God, but it was handed down by humans, so they have human elements based on the rabbis' interpretation of the Torah. Conservative Judaism follows Jewish laws and the ideology of the Masorti movement, which is based on three fundamental principles. The first fundamental principle is Torah and mitzvot. The word “torah” means to teach. The Torah is the Hebrew Bible consisting of the five books of Moses and six hundred and thirteen commandments. The word “Mitzvot” is translated as “commandments”. The second fundamental principle is tolerance and pluralism, which means that they respect each other's religions and believe in a peaceful existence among followers. The final core principle is Zionism, which is a national movement for the return of the Jewish people to what they believe to be their homeland in the territory defined as Israel. Congregation Beth Israel is an Orthodox temple. According to the... middle of paper ......judaism.about.com/od/sabbathdayshabb2/p/friday_evening.htm>Maor, Moshe. “Israel studies an anthology: the history of Zionism”. Jewish Virtual Library. May 2009. American-Israeli cooperative enterprise. February 20, 2014. Menachem, Serraf. “What is Tzitzit and Tallit? » - Mitzvah and Traditions. , 2011. Chabad.org. February 22, 2014. Rich, Tracey R. “Judaism 101: Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews.” Judaism 101: Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews. 2011. Jewish Charity. February 20, 2014. “Seven Shabbat Traditions – Mishpacha.” Seven Shabbat traditions - Mishpacha. 2005. The Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture. February 22. 2014.