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CHAPTER EIGHT:Closing The Circle In Jewish Life Cycle: Rituals, Culture
And Us
Background
9. The Relevance Of Rituals
The opposite problem also exists, whereby many go through
the motions of the rituals without understanding, or feeling connected
to them.
When ceremonies become meaningless to the participants, either because
they lack understanding of the meaning, or are indifferent to that meaning,
what remains of the ritual is an empty shell. The outer form exists, but
with little or no meaningful content.
In the case of the Bar (or, to a lesser extent, the Bat) Mitzvah, it
was suggested that when rituals become hollow they tend to become filled
with crass material values of the worst kind. In order to
reverse that phenomenon, it is necessary to make the process relevant,
and a number of ways were suggested as to how this might be done.
Existing, but irrelevant ceremonies are as great a problem and a challenge
to the Jewish community as those moments for which a need is felt, but
where there are no existing: both endanger a cultural system that does
not address them. A system that does not move forward in addressing
such needs, will ultimately fail because of its irrelevance.
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