Orenstein's Lifecycles - Inspiring Too Many Questions

Feminism in Judaism adds to further opportunities for the transformation of a constantly transforming religion. Feminism strives to include women where they were previously excluded, to encompass feminist ideals in lifecycle rites, to pay attention to women’s biological cycles in the creation of new ritual, and to sacralize personal journeys that may not have been considered essential to Jewish ritual before. Jewish feminism strives to give women both access and influence in Jewish ritual, to give them both the ability to participate in ritual and to have their voices heard in the development of ritual. In Lifecycles, Barbara Orenstein advocates for the incorporation of feminism into the creation of Jewish ritual.

Orenstein explains that ritual fills “The need for the individual to be acknowledged by community, the need for the community/ tribe to read itself into the passages of each member, the need for bonding, which serves both individual and community, the need to (re-)enact dramatically the great stories and messages of the tradition, for the sake of the individuals and of the tradition” (Orenstein xx). She continues to explain the comfort behind “predictability.” In her explanation of what ritual provides, Orenstein touches on Driver’s ritual gifts of community, order, and transformation. According to both Driver and Orenstein, the value of ritual lies in a personal identity as a human being related to other human beings, in the continuity of order, and in both personal and ritual change. Orenstein, however, bases her emphasis on a feeling of inclusion. Through feminism, Orenstein suggests ritual that makes Jews find their place among other Jews and feel as if they truly belong. To contrast with Marcus’s “inward acculturation” as a source of past Jewish ritual creation, Orenstein focuses on what I coined as “internal acculturation” before as a source of present and future Jewish ritual creation. By mixing and matching past and previous Jewish traditions, texts, blessings, and objects, Jews can create ritual that better fits personal need.

The essays that Orenstein provides about childbirthing rituals and substitutes for bris provide interesting solutions to ritual boredom and ritualism in Judaism. At the same time, however, they prompt open-ended questions about certain uncomfortable aspects of Judaism. If God cursed Eve by giving her the burden of childbirth, why does the Torah consider fruitfulness such a blessing? If childbirth is such a blessing, then, why do we have no ritual to support that? In Treasure Cohen’s essay on “tree-dition,” she explains that her and her husband were too exhausted with practical matters after the birth of her children to want to deal with ritual. My personal question would be, is a ritual for childbirth really necessary? While “welcoming children into name and covenant” symbolizes the transformation of an individual through metaphor, isn’t the wonder of childbirth pretty straightforward? New life might be enough of an obvious miracle in itself that it transcends the necessity of words and symbolism.

With sufficient tweaking according to personal need, “welcoming children into name and covenant” can become powerful, and often powerfully controversial, ritual. Laura Geller voices the importance of traditional circumcision ceremonies as the affirmation of God’s parental impact on the baby, the father’s metaphorical birthing of the child, and the child’s sexual identity. Through these affirmations, the baby transforms into a human being with a Jewish past, present, and future. Reminiscent of van Gennep’s three stages of rites, the baby goes from baby to the liminality of ritual to Jewish individual. Keeping such key elements of bris-like ritual in mind, the contributing authors and readers grapple with how to make the ritual equally meaningful for boys and girls. Through the use of trees, the timing of the lunar cycle, and the use of symbolically feminine objects, the authors create astounding innovations but still cannot reconcile with the idea of circumcision. I ask, then, is it enough to circumcise a boy in this day and age just to prevent future embarrassment? And furthermore, what are the advantages and disadvantages of gendering or ungendering such a symbolic ritual? Should the meaning behind bris alter, change completely according to changing ritual, or stay the same with adapted ritual? The overriding question of this course becomes more ambiguous and intriguing with every further reading: How far can we stretch ritual and still consider it authentically and effectively Jewish?