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CHAPTER EIGHT:Closing The Circle In Jewish Life Cycle: Rituals, Culture
And Us
Background
8. Creating Rituals For Moments
There are places in the life cycle process where rituals are lacking.
If one of the tasks of life cycle rituals is to ease the transition from
one phase of life to another, and another task is to frame the significant
moments of a person’s life, elevating them within a framework of
enhancing values, then the absence of rituals at key times is cause for
concern. The issue of a need for new rituals at pivotal times
of life, such as the end of adolescence, or the onset of the aging process,
has been raised and addressed from different perspectives.
In some cases, existing ceremonies are considered inadequate by many.
This is especially true of women: birth rituals for baby girls, or traditional
(lack of) adolescent rituals for older girls are good examples of this.
In both cases, many Jews in recent generations have attempted to create
parallels to the rich ritual ceremonies that exist for boys. The extension
of middle life and old age has also been raised as a transition lacking
a mark of role and value in the community and personal life.
It is not only Nature that abhors a vacuum: disenfranchised
human beings who feel locked out of the richness of their own cultural
traditions are likely to feel the same.
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