Rites of Passage

Description

Scholars tend to call them “rites of passage.” Most people prefer to speak of them as life-cycle events or milestones. Jews like to speak of simchas, when there’s something (a birth, bar or bat mitzvah, or a wedding) to celebrate. These are key moments for individuals and for the families and communities of which they are a part. This volume offers new insights into rituals as old as the Hebrew Bible and as new as the twenty-first century in contexts as familiar as the American Midwest and as exotic as Karaism. This collection examines and frequently affirms some of the rituals that have traditionally been associated with these events, while inviting readers to cast a critical eye on the ways in which these customs have developed in recent years. The authors, who include congregational leaders as well as scholars, also affirm the need to expand or enhance existing ceremonies to include groups whose needs have not traditionally been addressed.
Acknowledgements

Editor’s Introduction

Contributors

“What Makes a Bat Mitzvah Blossom”: Pre-Bat Mitzvah Rituals for Daughters and Mothers, by Penina Adelman

More Bar Than Mitzvah: Anxieties over Bar Mitzvah Receptions in Postwar America, by Rachel Kranson

Becoming Orthodox Women: Rites of Passage in the Orthodox Community, by Leslie Ginsparg Klein

Talking about the Jewish Wedding Ritual: Issues of Gender, Power, and Social Control, by Irit Koren

The Making of a Rabbi: Semichah Ordination from Moses to Grosses, by Jonathan Gross

Perspectives on Evaluating New Jewish Rituals, by Vanessa Ochs

Memory, Questions and Definitions: Images of Old and New Rites of Passage, by Ori Z. Soltes

A Need for New Rituals? American Judaism and the Holocaust, by Oliver Leaman

Karaism: An Alternate Form of Jewish Celebration, by Daniel J. Lasker

Without a Minyan: Creating a Jewish Life in a Small Midwestern Town, by Daniel Mandell, Barbara Smith-Mandell, and Jerrold Hirsch

Raising the Bar, Maximizing the Mitzvah: Jewish Rites of Passage for Children with Autism, by Steven Puzarne

Sujets

• Jewish
• Histoire
• History

Informations

• Publié par: Purdue University Press
• Date de parution: 15 octobre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781612497426
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 54 Mo

Extrait

Rites of Passage: How Today’s Jews Celebrate, Commemorate, and Commiserate

Studies in Jewish Civilization Volume 21

Proceedings of the TwentyFirst Annual Symposium of the Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization Harris Center for Judaic Studies

October 2627, 2008

Rites of Passage: How Today’s Jews Celebrate, Commemorate, and Commiserate

Studies in Jewish Civilization Volume 21

Editor: Leonard J. Greenspoon

The Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization Harris Center for Judaic Studies The Kripke Center for the Study of Religion and Society

Purdue University Press West Lafayette, Indiana

 Copyright © 2010, by Creighton University  Published by Purdue University Press  All rights reserved  Manufactured in the United States of America

 Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Rites of passage : how today’s Jews celebrate, commemorate, and commiserate / editor, Leonard J. Greenspoon.  p. cm.  (Studies in Jewish civilization ; v. 21)  Includes bibliographical references.  ISBN 9781557535771  1. JudaismCustoms and practices. 2. Life cycle, HumanReligious aspects Judaism. 3. Life change eventsReligious aspectsJudaism. 4. Jewish way of life. I. Greenspoon, Leonard J. (Leonard Jay)  BM700.R45 2010  296.4’4dc22  2010021856

 No part of Studies in Jewish Civilization (ISSN 10708510) Volume 21 may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ............................................................................................... vii

Editor’s Introduction ............................................................................................. ix

Contributors ....................................................................................................... xvii

“What Makes a Bat Mitzvah Blossom”: PreBat Mitzvah Rituals for  Daughters and Mothers ............................................................................... 1 Penina Adelman

More Bar Than Mitzvah: Anxieties over Bar Mitzvah Receptions in  Postwar America ........................................................................................... 9 Rachel Kranson

Becoming Orthodox Women: Rites of Passage in the Orthodox  Community ............................................................................................... 25 Leslie Ginsparg Klein

Talking about the Jewish Wedding Ritual: Issues of Gender, Power,  and Social Control ..................................................................................... 33 Irit Koren

The Making of a Rabbi:SemichahOrdination from Moses to Grosses ................. 57 Jonathan Gross

Perspectives on Evaluating New Jewish Rituals ..................................................... 63 Vanessa Ochs

Memory, Questions and Definitions: Images of Old and  New Rites of Passage .................................................................................. 71 Ori Z. Soltes

A Need for New Rituals? American Judaism and  the Holocaust ........................................................................................... 127 Oliver Leaman

Karaism: An Alternate Form of Jewish Celebration ............................................ 141 Daniel J. Lasker

Without aMinyan: Creating a Jewish Life in a Small Midwestern  Town .................................................................................................... 155 Daniel Mandell, Barbara SmithMandell, and Jerrold Hirsch

Raising the Bar, Maximizing the Mitzvah: Jewish Rites of  Passage for Children with Autism ......................................................... 187 Steven Puzarne

Acknowledgements

The Twenty-First Annual Klutznick-Harris Symposium took place in Omaha, Nebraska, on October 26 and 27, 2008. Like this volume, it was titled “Rites of Passage: How Today’s Jews Celebrate, Commemorate, and Commiserate.” The first Symposium that I organized and oversaw was held in October 1996. That may have been my rite of passage as holder of the Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization at Creighton University. By the time we began planning our twenty-first Symposium, we had developed—and continued to perfect— our own set of rituals, from deciding on a topic and formulating our Call for Papers, through evaluating proposals and determining travel schedules, to reserving hotel rooms, arranging for shuttles, and ordering food. It is not a task for the faint of heart or those averse to detail. And it is most decidedly not a task for one person. For several years, I have been blessed with the most accommodating and understanding colleagues in the entire world (within or outside of academia): Dr. Jean Cahan, director of the Harris Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Dr. Ronald Simkins, director of the Kripke Center for the Study of Religion and Society at Creighton; and Mrs. Fran Minear, who works with both Ron and me. Additionally, Mary Sue Grossman, director of operations and programming for the Omaha Jewish Federation’s Center for Jewish Education, insures that everything runs smoothly at the Jewish Community Center, where our presentations take place on Sunday. A committed group of individuals works with us on Monday for an equally smooth series of events on the Creighton campus. This volume marks the beginning of a new collaboration with the Purdue University Press, whose director Charles Watkinson has extended every possible professional and personal courtesy to make us feel at home among the growing number of Jewish Studies publications of his Press. Special thanks also go to our colleague Zev Garber, who, acting in the best tradition of “matchmaking,” brought together our Series and the Purdue University Press. May this new venture by mutually beneficial and satisfying! In addition to the Harris Center, the Kripke Center, and the Jewish Federation of Omaha, this Symposium was nourished and supported by the continuing generosity of the following:  The Ike and Roz Friedman Foundation  The Riekes Family  The Creighton College of Arts and Sciences

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Creighton University Committee on Lectures, Films, and Concerts The Gary Javitch Family Foundation The Center for Jewish Education The Henry Monsky Lodge of B’nai B’rith The Dr. Bruce S. Bloom Memorial Endowment and Others

viii

Leonard J. Greenspoon Omaha, Nebraska May 2010 [e-mail]

Editor’s Introduction

It is characteristic of religions that they develop and maintain rituals through which the community celebrates or commemorates significant events. Typically, individuals or family units within the community also make use of rituals to mark important milestones in their lives. The communal celebrations or commemorations are generally laid out on the calendar in an annual cycle; naturally, most individual or family occasions are intended as once-in-a-lifetime events. Thus, for someone actively involved in a religious community, the calendar is regularly filled with a series of activities that add meaning and bring a sense of belonging that extends from the individual to the family to the local—and often the national and international—community, and vice versa. Nowhere is this “rhythm” of life more richly experienced or minutely observed than in the Jewish community. Our focus in this volume is on what scholars tend to call “rites of passage.” Most people speak of them simply as life cycle events or milestones. Jews like to speak ofsimchas, when there’s something—birth, Bar or Bat Mitzvah, or wedding, for example—to celebrate. Whatever we call them, such rituals have the power to connect us with generations past as well as with our contemporaries. In this respect, rites of passage may be viewed as both conservative and dynamic. In fact, it is the interplay between these two impulses (if you will) that forms the unifying thread among the articles contained in this collection. In the process of describing and analyzing a wide variety of data, each author also comes to grips, some more explicitly than others, with basic questions such as: How do rituals originate and develop? Why do some rituals become successful and long lasting, while others fall to the wayside? What happens to a ritual when its religious community (or parts of that community), in response to either outside or inside influences, changes to such a degree that the ritual risks losing its relevance? Of course, there are many more questions and permutations of questions that can be, and are, asked, but these three can suffice to make the point: the study and the practice of rites of passage, bringing together as they do many disciplines and many emotions, are multifaceted, important, and prone to surprise both researcher and practitioner alike. We begin withPenina Adelman, “’What Makes a Bat Mitzvah Blossom’: Pre-Bat Mitzvah Rituals for Daughters and Mothers.” Her article is a reflection

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