Why Jewish Lifecycle Rituals

Jewish lifecycle rituals reflect a communal orientation, the democratic nature of traditions, the relationship between the biological and the social, and the inevitability of evolution and change.

Events in the "calendar" of the lifecycle are private, yet connect us to the "unseen presences" of missing family members and our entire people throughout history.

While some meaningful life events go by without any ritual to mark them, too often rituals take place without the participants experiencing any significant meaning.

Jewish lifecycle ceremonies celebrate change, and sanctify the ordinary.

Overview of why Jewish ritual and what it does.