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CHAPTER EIGHT:Closing The Circle In Jewish Life Cycle: Rituals, Culture
And Us
Activities - Concluding Exercices
12. Creating a Ritual for Jewish Moments
(Ninety minutes)
- Pass a cup of wine around the group, and say that all who wish should
sip the wine.
Ask the group for memories, or associations with such a moment.
- Ask the group what, if anything, changes for them when a meal, or
special occasion, begins with such an action.
Discuss the ability of a moment that is ritualised, in one way or another,
to change the character of that moment:
- Is there a difference between a moment that is ritualised
and one that is not?
- Ask why a group of people, or a culture, might choose to ritualise
a moment. List all the reasons that come up.
- What makes a ritual “work” successfully?
List those elements as well.
- Divide the participants into small groups of two or three. Each group
should select a moment, or an event, relevant to their own lives that
they might wish to ritualise in a way that captures it as a Jewish moment
and say why. They should choose their aims from the list of reasons
just made for ritualising a moment; the moment must be one for which
no Jewish ritual commonly exists.
(It could be a ritual to mark a particular birthday, or for those about
to enter a new school. It could also be a ritual for going to Israel
for the first time, for passing an important exam, or anything else
of the kind.)
- Prepare in advance a table of objects that are often connected to
Jewish rituals. Set them up at this point.
(This might include: wine, candles, a memorial candle, a siddur, a Torah
scroll, or its equivalent, bread, herbs, a musical instrument, herbs,
salt and anything else of this kind.)
- Each group should now include at least three things from the table
in its ritual. They should then add one other recognisably Jewish object,
or concept, that might have made it onto the table but did not.
(These could include, for example, a flag of Israel, a Magen David,
a minyan, the singing of Hatikvah.)
- After they have prepared their ritual, bring all the groups together
to explain their new ritual form and the decisions that led them to
create it in this manner.
- Finally, discuss what might go into a ritual to conclude the entire
group project on the Jewish life cycle!
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