Rites of Passage

B'rit Milah

Jewish baby boys are circumcised when they are eight days old. The foreskin is removed by a trained rabbi known as a mohel in a ceremony called B'rit Milah (=the covenant of circumcision). Only men are allowed in the room while the circumcision takes place. It is a time of great rejoicing and celebration. A male relative has the honour of performing the role of sandek; seated, he holds the baby firmly on his lap, on a cushion, while the circumcision is carried out. During the ceremony, the child's name will be announced.

Abraham, the great ancestral father of the Jews, who lived some 4000 years ago, was the first to accept the sign or covenant of circumcision as a mark of his covenant with God.

There is no ceremony for a girl, but her name will be announced in the synagogue a week after her birth.

Bar Mitzvah

In Judaism, a boy is considered to be old enough to take on his religious duties when he is 13 years of age. In the Orthodox Jewish community, boys prepare for their Bar Mitzvah carefully, particularly in learning Hebrew and especially how to intone the Hebrew when reading from a scroll of the Torah in the synagogue.

On the sabbath following his 13th birthday, at the Saturday morning service, the boy will be called up to the Bimah, the central platform in the synagogue, to read from the Torah scroll. It is a great honour and marks his arrival as an adult male member of the community. The title, Bar Mitzvah, means 'Son of the Commandment'.

For the reading, he will wear a Tallit (prayer shawl). From this time on, he will also be expected to wear his tephillin (black boxes attached by straps to forehead and arm) every weekday morning when he says his morning prayers. It is his duty as an adult male to say prayers three times a day. At the synagogue he can now be included in the minimum number (the minyan) needed before a synagogue service can begin.

For girls the Bat Mitzvah (daughter of the commandment) ceremony is not the same. It occurs when girls reach the age of 12 years. There is a small synagogue ceremony, often for a group of girls together. However, in the Reform and Liberal communities of Judaism, where men and women are not seen to have different roles (e.g. men and women sit together in the synagogue, women can become rabbis etc.), girls are called to read from the Torah scroll and also wear a Tallit.

Kiddushin

The Jewish word for marriage is Kiddushin, which literally menas "made holy." In a Jewish wedding, the bride stands on the right hand side of the groom. The wedding ceremony takes place under a four-poster canopy called a Huppah (or Chuppah), situated in the synagogue in front of the Bimah. Sometimes, especially in Israel, the ceremony takes place in the open-air. The Huppah represents the future home of the couple. Vows are said and then the couple drink from a goblet of wine. The groom places the ring on the right index finger of the bride. The rabbi will read out the ketubah - this is the marriage contract which is drawn up before the ceremony. Marriage, in Judaism, is a contract, and the ketubah sets out the contractual duties and responsibilities of the husband towards his wife.

The rabbi then pronounces seven blessings, following which the groom stamps on a glass to smash it. This represents the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE.

Death

In Judaism, the dead are always buried. The picture on the right is special because it is a war grave.

When a Jewish person dies, the family show their grief by tearing a piece of their clothing. A candle is lit and one of the family remains with the body, possibly reciting psalms. Funeral arrangements are made immediately for, if at all possible, the body must be buried within 24 hours. The body will be washed and, in the case of a man, wrapped in his tallith (prayer shawl). The fringes which symbolise the 613 commandments will have been removed since the earthly obligation to keep them will have ceased with the death of the person.