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.
Brief description: Leonard J. Greenspoon holds the Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization at Creighton University, where he also is a professor of Classical and Near Eastern Studies and of theology. Prior to his tenure at Creighton, Greenspoon was a professor of religion at Clemson University. As well as editing the Studies in Jewish Civilization series, Greenspoon has coedited another four volumes and written four monographs. A prolific author, he has written over two hundred and fifty journal articles, book chapters, and major encyclopedia entries. He has made public and scholarly presentations throughout the United States and Canada as well as in Israel and many European countries. His major research interests center on Bible translations (especially Jewish versions) and religion in popular culture.
Review Quotes:
Leonard J. Greenspoon, ed."Rites of Passage: How Today's Jews Celebrate, Commemorate, and Commiserate." West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 2010. 197 pp. $35.00 (paper), ISBN 978-1-55753-577-1.Reviewed by Einat Ramon (Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies)
Published on H-Judaic (January, 2012)
Commissioned by Jason KalmanThe Many Faces of Jewish RitualLeonard J. Greenspoon has added a thought-provoking anthology to our bookshelves in which the many faces of Jewish rituals (mainly in the United States, England, and Israel) are celebrated. While Jewish feminists, like Debra Orenstein ("Lifecycles""Anthology" [1994]), paved the way for the revival of interest in Jewish ritual, other anthropological studies and contemporary perspectives on Jewish life evolved into rich anthologies, such as Harvey Goldberg's "The Life of Judaism "(2001). Jews' interest and creativity in the area of ritual is, as I have suggested elsewhere, an inherent part and extension of the halakhic paradigm in Judaism, which translates theology into action in the material world. Yet it is unfortunate that a number of essays here, on such topics as egalitarian weddings and rituals celebrated with autistic children, overlook discussions of similar topics previously addressed in other anthologies on Jewish ritual. Steven Puzarne's contribution on rites of passage for children with autism, for example, would have benefited from discussing Miri Lawrence's essay exploring the Passover Seder and Jewish education through the lens of her autistic child, an essay that could be useful to any (Jewish) educator anywhere in the world.[1] The absence of this encounter with other research is unfortunate because rather than continue to develop discussions on these topics, the essays offer as new conclusions perspectives reached by earlier scholarship. Although the subtitle of Greenspoon's book makes explicit reference to the celebrations of "Today's Jews," what I find refreshing in this volume is the ad