Leslie Ventura
REL 100
Final Paper: Jewish Wedding Society today is made up of a mosaic of different cultures and religions. Visitors to the U.S. can see the incorporation of many traditions and rituals from other countries. Throughout history there have been many refugees who leave their homelands which has led to the spread of different cultures and traditions around the world. For Jews, the spread of Judaism was caused by diaspora, or dispersion of people outside their countries, which happened several times in history. Even though Judaism is widespread, there is a consistency in the basic traditions and holidays that are celebrated. Many rituals and traditions that are a part of Judaism are still preformed, like bar and bat mitzvahs,
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A Jewish wedding ceremony, like all rituals, has particular actions and sounds. Prayers and blessings are said under a canopy, the marriage contract is witness, blessings spoken over a glass of wine, and finally the breaking of glass. All these motions and words spoken are what make up a Jewish wedding ritual. Rites of passage also occur through these ceremonies. During a Jewish wedding, the participants pass one status to another and become mindful of their new obligations and station. In, Marriage in the Jewish Tradition, by Blu Greenberg, a Jewish marriage “is a change in personal status. Neither sacrament nor mere legal transaction, it enjoys the trappings of…the richness of ceremony and rite” (7). The rite of passage of a Jewish wedding symbolizes the transition “between the couple and their families, and especially the separation of the girl-youth from her family and her joining her husband’s family” (Sharaby 41). The couple experience a moment where they are neither married nor single before they reach their new identity. In Van Gennep’s timeline of rites of passage, a Jewish wedding follows the three main stages. The pre-liminal stage, or the stage of separation where those getting married are disconnected from their prior social position. The second stage is the liminal or transitional phase. This stage is during the Jewish wedding ceremony where the couple has no defined status. The last and …show more content…
According to Roy Rappaport who wrote, Ritual, Time, and Eternity, rituals “all "take time,"…during which one act or utterance…succeeds the one preceding it in established order” (8). Time and place are concepts humans create and bring into the world. Although time “may be founded upon natural processes—the circle of the seasons…the alternation of day and night—it is not established by those processes themselves” (10). The two concepts, sacred and profane, are opposites of each other. By combining the concepts of sacred and profane, time, and place, sacred time and place can be defined. There is sacred time and there is profane time “in which acts without religious meaning have their setting” (68). Sacred time “appears under the paradoxical aspect of a circular time…a sort of eternal mythical present that is periodically reintegrated by means of rites” (70). In the Jewish tradition, the synagogue or temple is considered a sacred place. During a wedding, another place that is made sacred and has importance is the canopy that the bride and groom stand under for the ceremony. Sacred time during the wedding ceremony is when prayers and blessing are being said. The incorporation of sacred time and place within a Jewish wedding ceremony bring the couple closer to an unseen
In chapter 3 of the “Sacred Quest” the book discusses “the ways in which the Sacred is manifested in the world of human experience” (39). In particular, the book discusses examples of sacred persons, objects, time, and space. The Sacred Quest states that there is a pattern in religions and breaks them up into 3 types of sacred appearance: prophetic, sacramental, and mystical. The first, prophetic, is associated most with Judaism and Islam, focusing on a person or prophet. The second is most apparent in Christianity, which emphasizes the presence of the sacred through aspects of material reality and stresses the role of priests.
A sacred space is defined as a location that has been designated by a group as worthy of devotion or loyalty. A sacred space can be a cemetery, monument, or any type of location that represents a connection to an object of devotion. These sacred spaces link people of the present and future to the past and help them to remember something or someone that deserves their devotion, loyalty, and respect. A sacred space can be represented by a famous battle, building, location where a historical event occurred, or even a famous person who did something for their community. In my hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas one example of a sacred space would be a monument of a famous person who lived in the city, Selena Quintanilla.
Torah Reading is a significant event that takes place in the ceremony. During the ceremony, the child reads the final portion of the Torah which is called the Maftir. Maftir is a repetition of several verses of the seventh portion. Prior to and after reading the Torah, the child will be reciting blessings from the Torah. The importance of this event is to bring in the child 's new responsibilities in the Jewish community.
Marriage – a fragile human relationship. Marriage starts with wedlock and eventually the two people band together regardless it’s always cut short by a divorce which hinders the relationship. The anatomy of marriage is filled with disparity and tentative where agreements are the only temporary culminating threat of disunity. In a manner corresponding to Irwin Shaw’s main protagonist Michael in the story called “The Girls in Their Summer Dresses”, it can be said that his outlook on marriage is trivial.
A Jew, a Muslim, a Christian and a Methodist all sitting at the same table having a civil religious conversation. It was amazing! A lady at the table asked about the religion and dating because he mention his wife had been divorced before they were married. He answered divorce is acceptable. In courting the bride’s parents must pay the groom a dowry for the purpose of him to take care of her.
In her chapter “Consuming Pleasure on the Wedding Day: The Lived Experience of Being a Bride”, Sharon Boden provides an insight into the ways brides utilize their wedding fantasies for their own pleasure on their wedding day. She discusses about the balance between the concept of romantic intimacy and the public space of the wedding that brides have to manage. Due to the changes in culture, weddings not only implicate consumerism but also the community structures and rituals of courtship which united the joining families as well as “sanctioning… woman’s property be passed into the hands of the man she was to marry”(Boden, 2007, p.110). However, due to the industrial revolution and an increase in wage-earning wives, there were amendments in the legal status of
During the Middle Ages, the church began to hold more power and influence over marriage. However, “Despite increased church oversight, most marriage practices were left to local customs. In fact, being married in a church was not required by church law until the sixteenth century”. Being married in a church is a main trend that occurs in ‘traditional’ marriages in the twenty first century, but it was not always a necessity or a convention that was followed. Marriage practices varied based on where people lived, although the church did strive to maintain some control over the marriage
The ancient Jewish wedding customs are a teaching tool. Each phase of the ancient customs allows you to understand your relationship to Jesus as His
The most important daily ritual the Jewish faith has is praying everyday three times everyday the normal times for prayer are morning, afternoon, and evening. The likely place for Jews to pray is in a synagogue. Another place is called the Quorum of Ten also named Minyan, but that's mainly for adult men but it certain occasions women are allowed to use the Minyan. Throughout life Jews have many very important rituals it starts with the circumcision,
The tradition of marriage has always been considered a sacred blessing, but as just as the world has grown and changed, so has the people’s belief in what marriage should be about. Since then, what was considered ordinary in the fourteenth century may be known as primitive or fossilized now. With that, marriage now versus the 1300’s has several differences that show the changes of people 's beliefs in the “standards” when it comes to marriage. To start off, a major difference between now and the 1300’s would be the people you are legally able to marry.
I believe that ritual is a personal experience and to those within the purpose is apparent, those outside are subject to cultural barriers such as the one described by Rosaldo. I also question the fact that denying rage within grief; one cannot understand these actions, like not knowing love in the matter we as members of a culture that includes non-arranged marriage do could cause those that support arranged
In Mormonism, there is two wedding that occurs: the temple wedding ceremony and the non-temple wedding. The pre-wedding ritual that a Mormon does to marry in the temple is pretty lengthy. To get married in Mormonism, both the bride and groom must be faithful members of Mormonism for a year and they must both have experienced the endowment ceremony (it is a separate temple ceremony that takes place before either marriage and is required before getting me). The couple must also get the permission for a temple wedding (a Sealing Ordinance), the bride and the groom must both attend a private interview with their local bishop, where the couple will answer a series of questions about their religious diligence. Essentially, the bishop will assess that they couple
Since the beginning of time, we have always been amused by nature and its extraordinary events. These events have been seen as holy and as actions of Gods, in this way the bases of religion were found. However, it is much more complex than that; we have reached the peaks of our inner spiritual states to feel and in a way see the sacred around us. It can be seen in miraculous happenings, in our overwhelming feelings toward something, and in many elements which we find unfathomable. The sacred, for the most part, lies at the physically and mentally unattainable, the profane on the other side, is a treatment of something which is considered as sacred but it is actually attainable.
Ceremony Ethnography In North American culture, weddings are usually a lavish celebration of joining two families. Recently, at a wedding I attended with my family, I noticed many things about the role of music in the wedding ceremony. Usually weddings are composed of a ceremony, with a reception or celebration afterwards. In this wedding, there was a limited role of music in the actual ceremony (other than the bridal procession/ “Here Comes the Bride” and when the newlyweds exited at the end of the wedding), however the role of music was more substantial in the wedding reception (in which there was celebratory music and dancing).
The five pre- wedding rituals for Jainism are Laghana Lekan, Laghana Patrika, Vachan, Sagai, and Manga Mandap. Laghana Lekhan is the beginning of the wedding ritual. Families, friends, and relatives attend a small puja at the bride 's place. A priest goes to the bride 's place to announce the date of their marriage. Next, Laghana Patrika Vachan is a similar wedding ritual as the Laghana Lekhan.