SECTION 3 JUDAISM- TOPIC 2.3.5 RITUALS AND CEREMONIES Flashcards
Birth ceremonies
Children are a great blessing in Judaism, indeed the very first mitzvah says Jews should have children:
“Be fruitful and increase in number”
Ceremonies for boys
-Brit Milah
- mother brings the baby in
- hands him to the kvatters
- carry the child on a cushion to the sandek
- mohel (circumciser) then carries out the procedure and dresses the wound
- Father says
Is it okay for a baby jewish boy not to have a brit milah?
the halakhah makes clear that any male child born Jewish but not circumcised is still a Jew.
Ceremonies for girls
BRIT BAT
-special naming ceremony
-on the Shabbat following the birth
-rabbi blesses and names the child and there is a celebratory meal
-rabbi blesses child
“Blessed be the child”
Marriage ceremonies
All Jews are expected to marry and have children because of the mitzvah that humans should be fruitful and increase the number of humans on earth.
“they will become one flesh.”
The purposes of Jewish marriage are:
-to obey the mitzvah and have children
-share a life of love and companionship
-share sex with each other in the way God intended
-to establish a Jewish home
Features of a jewish wedding:
The couple fast before the wedding as repentance for their past sins, as the wedding (kiddushin in Hebrew) will sanctify them and forgive their sins.
The bride and groom meet under the Huppah.
The bridegroom then stamps on the glass to remind everyone of the destruction of the Temple and that in the midst of joy some people are suffering and sorrowing.
Bar Mitzvah
what is it?
what must the boy be expected to do after?
a Jewish boy’s coming of age
in the Talmud, it says that while thirteen is the proper age for fulfilment of the Commandments
after boy’s Bar Mitzvah he must:
-put on tefillin for morning prayers
-he can make up a minyan
-he has to observe the fast days in full and
-he may be called up to read the sidra in synagogue services.
Bar Mitzvah
what are the main features of the ceremony?
-boy recites the blessing before the Torah is read
-If he can, should read the whole Torah passage for the day
-Father says “BLESSED BE HE WHO HATH FREED ME FROM THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THIS CHILD”
-Rabbi talks about joys of fulfilling commandments as an adult jew
-celebratory meal
Bat Mitzvah
Orthodox Judaism, girls attain their Bat Mitzvah at the age of twelve
-DO NOT HAVE TO DO WEAR TEFILLIN CUZ CANNOT!
Liberal/Reform Judaism SAME AS BOYS
-happens at the age of thirteen and they are called up to
read the Torah.
Bat Chayil
(Daughter of Worth)
group of girls
who have reached twelve years of age during the previous year
are jointly addressed by the rabbi and
each then reads a passage they have chosen from the Tenakh.
What are the 4 stages of death and mourning rituals?
At the point of death
From death to the funeral
Avelut: the period of mourning
Yarzheit
STAGE 0- At the point of death
+SOWAA
family should gather to help the person die as a Jew
Ideally, every Jew dies with the last sentence of the SPECIAL prayer on their lips
special prayer ends is
“‘Hear O Israel: the Lord… is one.’”
STAGE 1- From death to the funeral
-Synagogues have a CHEVRA KADISHA (BURIAL SOCIETY
-funeral takes place as soon after death as possible
-rabbi gives a short speech about the dead person
-Everyone then washes their hands before leaving the cemetery as contact with the dead is considered unclean.
SOWAA for why funeral should take place asap?
” Be sure to bury him the same day” deuteronomy
considered disrespectful to leave the dead person alone and someone stays with the body all the time until the funeral.
