Spec 1

A symbolic act showing the belonging to the faith/practised for more than 3000 years/a sign of the covenant God made with Abraham/part of an everlasting covenant/so important it is even allowed to be performed on the Sabbath or a holy day –/if not circumcised, cut off from the community/a sign of respect towards the Jewish fathers/important family celebration etc.

2018

• The boy puts on the tephillin and tallit
• the boy is called up to say the blessings over the Torah, (his first aliyah)
• boys may read from the Torah / chant the weekly prophetic portion (haftarah)
• lead some or all of the congregational service
• and offer a personal interpretation of the weekly Torah portion (d’var Torah)
• throwing of sweets
• the boy may make a speech
• the rabbi may offer a blessing
• the father thanks God for releasing him from his spiritual obligations for his son
• can pray as part of the minyan
• celebration
• small gifts etc.
  N.B. Focus on the ceremony rather than the significance

2020

• Ceremony represents the start of a boy taking full responsibility for his own religious education and development / the boy will have had to prepare thoroughly for his Bar Mitzvah / he will have studied the Torah in preparation for reading out loud in the synagogue / he will have spent many hours learning how to read and recite Hebrew / he will have prepared a speech on a theme in the
  Torah / and may have also developed a community project / this will have helped him to understand that he is a scholar of the Torah and that this will continue into his adult life / and that he has responsibilities to the wider Jewish community.
• Following the ceremony, he will now be able to show full and proper respect when praying / as he will be able to correctly wear the tallit and tefillin / Deuteronomy 6:8 ‘You shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be a reminder between your eyes’.
• Completion of the ceremony provides another person who is now eligible to make up a minyan / when a minyan meets, Shekhinah is present / minyan required for specific acts of worship, eg funeral / means there is another person who can read the Torah in the synagogue during worship.
• The ceremony celebrates the link in an unbroken chain of thousands of years of Jewish tradition / the boy is joining this tradition to claim his own Jewish identity and show personal desire for links to whole of Judaism.
• The ceremony is a reminder of freedom to live as a practising Jew / reminder of all those denied this privilege / reminder of being one of God’s chosen people.
• Ceremony involves whole community / community is very important in Judaism / becoming Bar Mitzvah is an extension of that sense of community / initiation to full community / now seen as one of the adults.
• Important day for whole family / extended family attend even from far away / as well as public acknowledgement and celebration within the community, etc.

2019

• A Jewish wedding takes place under the chuppah, a canopy held up by four poles / this symbolises the home they will build together / but also has open sides to remind them that the Jewish community will support them and play a part in their marriage / and that their home should also be welcoming to visitors. The chuppah also demonstrates the fragility of relationships and the need to support them
• At a Jewish wedding the bride may wear white as a symbol of sexual purity / Jews are expected to save the gift of sexual relations for marriage / Jewish couples are expected to
  have children (the fifth of the seven blessings)
  • At the start of the ceremony the groom may perform bedeken which is the unveiling of the bride / (Rebecca veils herself as she is told that Isaac is approaching: Genesis 24:64) / this is a reminder of the groom’s love for his bride and her inner beauty
• The bride may circle the groom three to seven times / sometimes both partners circle each other / some believe this to be a sign of protection, against temptation and the glances of others / others see this as the formation of a new family circle. The ring is placed on the bride’s finger / and the groom says ‘Behold you are consecrated to me with this ring, according to the Law of Moses and Israel’ / this means that the couple’s relationship has sanctity and is blessed by God / the relationship is lifelong / Genesis 2:24, husband and wife become ‘one flesh’ / the ring has objective value which symbolises the value of the relationship
• In the Orthodox tradition, the Ketubah is signed / this reminds the groom that he has responsibilities towards his wife / and any children that they may go on to have in the progressive tradition, the ketubah include both partners’ responsibilities
• Blessings are recited / these are to remind the couple of the joy they will share / as a celebration of the power of love / blessings are also said for joy, peace and companionship.
• A glass is broken beneath the groom’s foot / this reminds those present of the destruction of the Temple / it reminds them that although they are joyful this day, they could be even more joyful if they could fulfil the commandments which depend on the Temple, etc.

2021

• When Jews first hear of the death, parents will make a small tear in the clothes over their heart, other close relatives on the right side of their chest / a blessing is said (‘Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the Universe, the True Judge’).
• The first part of mourning (Aninut) is most intense / close family grieve / do not have to follow certain religious rules / ensure someone stays with the body until burial / recite psalms constantly / cannot cut their hair / cannot wash their clothes / cannot bathe / no sexual relations / cannot wear tefillin / lasts until burial takes place.
• Once the burial has taken place, a meal of condolence (bread and eggs – new life) is prepared by a close friend or relative.
• Shiva (7 days of intense mourning) starts after the burial / mourners stay at home / sit on low stools / wear no leather shoes, do not shave or cut their hair / cover their mirrors / no make-up / do not work / pray three times a day at home with minyan of ten friends or relatives / the kaddish is recited.
• Lesser period of mourning (Sheloshim) follows shiva and lasts until 30 days after death / life returns to normal but no music, parties, shaving or haircut / male mourners say the kaddish daily in the synagogue.
• Final period of mourning (Avelut) lasts for 11 months after the lesser period / mourners do not attend parties / children say the kaddish if it is their parent who has died.
• Some have a ceremony of unveiling the headstone of the grave once mourning has ended / visitors may place a small stone on the headstone / sons mark the anniversary of a parent’s death by saying the kaddish and possibly making a Torah blessing.
• Differences between ways Orthodox and Reform Jews mourn eg some Reform Jews may sit shiva for 3 days rather than 7 / rather than tear their clothes, a Reform rabbi may give torn black ribbons to the mourners to pin on their clothing, etc.

2020

Arguments in support

• Rituals help the mourners come to terms with their loss / mourners are at their most vulnerable/lost at this time / so in greatest need.
• Whole community comes together to support the family in their time of need / such as preparing all food for them in the first week (Shiva) / community focus is on the living / community support those left behind / which shows recognition of greater need / as only small number attend to needs of deceased.
• Blessings (berakhot) for the bereaved – May God comfort you among all those who mourn for Zion and Jerusalem / praying to support the mourners.
• When a person dies / those left behind feel sadness and loss / they think about the deceased and what they were / whereas it is not possible to know whether the dead need anything at all / the dead are gone so have no needs / whereas it is obvious that the bereaved have need.
• The dead are dead and gone / anything those left behind do is for their own satisfaction or comfort / or out of obligation to their name, etc.

Arguments in support of other views

• ‘Need’ is the wrong word / dead are given respect through the whole process / are the focus of any actions/rituals.
• Special rituals for the dead / volunteer group (Chevra Kadisha, literally ‘sacred society’) prepare the body in a precise way / singing of hymns beside body to comfort the soul / body not left alone before burial / as it is not known when the soul departs / all for the benefit of the dead person / these are given primacy.
• At grave, attendees often have to put soil into the grave / departure from graveside is through two lines of mourners from the community to say words of mourning / intended to show respect to the dead person / suggests graveside rituals are more for the dead than the living / as they are focused on the deceased.
• Period of mourning lasts a year for the children / close family / many prohibitions in shiva (first week after burial) / including no study of Torah, no work, sit low, cover mirrors / for next 11 months (avelut) may not attend happy events, must go to synagogue for all services / intention is to keep them mindful of their loss, show appropriate respect / this is all caused by having had a death in the family / so the dead person is the centre of everything, and the cause of everything.
• By definition, mourning is about the dead / the dead and the mourners are two sides of the same coin / so mourning rituals cannot be seen as being about one rather than the other, etc.