2.5b : Rituals and Ceremonies (continued)

Question 1

What happens at a Jewish marriage?

Answer 1

• Marriage is a two step process.
• The first step is betrothal, 12 months before the wedding when the couple get engaged.
• Step 2 is the wedding.
• It is traditional for Jewish parents to choose their child’s partner with the help of a matchmaker, as Jews believe matchmakers work on God’s behalf.
• Jewish weddings can take place in the synagogue and on any day other than Shabbat or a festival.
• The ceremony is led by a rabbi and takes place under a canopy called a huppah.
• The huppah is closed on top, and open on the sides for privacy and for welcoming friends and the community.
• The couple sign the ketubah ( a marriage contact in which the groom promises to provide for his wife, and specifies what she will recieve in the event of his death or a divorce)
• The priest recites 7 blessings over a glass of wine.
• The couple drink from the glass to show they will spend their lives together.
• The groom stamps on the glass to symbolise the destruction of the Temple, and suffering.

Question 2

Why are Jewish marriage ceremonies important?

Answer 2

• Marriage brings two peopel together in the Jewish faith and provides the oppourtunity for a new Jewish family to develop and to continue the faith.

Question 3

SOWA: Genesis 2:23-24

Answer 3

“For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh”

Question 4

Marriage

SOWA: The Talmud

Answer 4

“A man without a wife is incomplete. An unmarried woman is an unfinished vessel”

Question 5

What happens after death, up until a Jewish funeral?

Answer 5

• The family gather to help the person die as a Jew. They say a prayer and ideally every Jew dies with the last sentence of the prayer on their lips.
• Relatives make tears in their clothers to fulfil the mitzvah, the basis of mourning.
• Synagogues have a burial society (chevra kaddishu) to help the family at their time of grief. They are incharge of washing the body, wrapping it in the dead person’s tallit and then they put the body in the coffin.
• It is disrespectful to leave the body alone until the funeral.
• At the funeral, psalms are read, and a short prayer is said praising God for giving life.

Question 6

What happens during avelut?

Answer 6

• Avelut is the second stage of mourning.
• The mourners are served a meal of hard-boiled eggs to symbolise that mourners are too grief-stricken to speak.
• Avelut has three stages. The first stage is Shiva - the first 7 days of extreme mourning. Mourners must stay in their homes and only leave to go to the synagogue on Shabbat. They cannot cut their hair or nails, wear leather shoes or have sex.
• All mirrors in the home must be covered, so that they do not focus on their appearance.
• For the next three weeks, mourners must go to the synagogue every day to pray the kaddish.

Question 7

What happens during yarzheit?

Answer 7

• On the anniversary of the person’s death, the family gather to remember their relative. A candle is lit and is kept burning for a day and night, and the kaddish is said.

Question 8

What do Liberal/Reform Jews beliveve about death and mourning rituals?

Answer 8

• They allow more time before the funeral so more family can attend.
• They wear a black ribbon instead of tearing their clothes.
• They accept cremation
• Sit shiva for one day
• They do not cover mirrors, sit on low chairs, stay in the house for 7 days
• They allow music to be played

Question 9

Why are death and mourning rituals important to Jews?

Answer 9

• The death of a family member is a time of great grief, but the ritual of faith provides the comfort of the Jewish community, which helps people at to cope at this terrible time.
• The rituals remind them of Jewish belief that death is not the end, and there is still hope for the future.