Torah as a Stepping Stool for Ritual Education

Goldberg, "Rituals of Education"
Lifecycles, "Invisible Passages"

The term “the Torah” can refer to a certain set of rules laid out in the Bible, to all of the prophets’ messages from God, to God’s entire collection of commandments God gives in the Torah, the physical scroll that encompasses the Five Books of Moses, the contents of that scroll in the form of a book, or an infinite number of other references. It represents the transformation of a building into a place for religious ritual, the metaphorical ideal bride of the people of Israel during Shavuot, and a physical channel between Jews and God. As text, symbol, and ritual object, the Torah exists as the core of Jewish education and acts as a guide around which Jewish educational practices are created.

Goldberg’s explanation for the evolution of the study of Torah provides several examples of Marcus’s “inward acculturation.” As Communion developed to atone for Christians’ sins, Judaism began to focus on education of Torah as their focus of atonement. With industrialization came a new emphasis in personal choice and a new impetus for personal religious identity. Thus, a formal bar mitzvah ceremony developed to affirm personal religious maturity. As modern public education evolved to encompass boys and girls and to fit into modern suburb culture, religious education had to welcome girls as well and change its timing to fit fathers’ new 9-to-5 work schedules. As Christian congregations developed Confirmation to welcome intellectual adults, Judaism followed suit. Of course, such adapted ritual mixed with previous ritual, current ritual, and other cultural pressures to become even newer educational ritual. Over time, the development of new Jewish educational ritual has constantly used inward acculturation as an answer to Barbara Orenstein’s call for “me too!"

The now infinite possibilities for Torah study give rise to individuals’ decisions about what they can consider personally effective ritual. With their knowledge of Jewish law, individuals can gain the ability to turn learning into liturgy and create ritual for whatever they see fit. Individuals can now decide whether or not their personal traumatic and joyous experiences need ritual accompaniment, whether that accompaniment should be public or private, and what the form of that ritual should be. When we create new ritual for experiences that previously lacked established ritual, we have the opportunity to shape performance and confession into both personal, ritual effectiveness and public, ethical effect.