The Circle of Jewish Life Joel Lurie Grishaver Torah Aura Productions 6722-1.indd 1 06/02/2017 10:40:43 AM Torah Aura Productions ISBN 10 1-891662-90-2 ISBN 13 978-1-891662-90-4 Copyright © 2007 Torah Aura Productions Second printing 2017 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. MANUFACTURED IN MALAYSIA 6722-1.indd 2 06/02/2017 10:40:44 AM Table of Contents The Circle of Life ........................5 Conversion................................................33 A Jewish Life ...............................................6 Becoming a Jew by Choice ......................34 The Tree .......................................................7 Torah Events ...............................35 Birth:Entering the Covenant .....8 Consecration, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Confirmation and Adult Education .....36 Birth Story ...................................................9 The Torah of Torah Study .........................38 Shalom Zakhar: Howdy, Kid ...................11 Consecration.............................................39 Noah to Abraham to You .........................12 The Bar/Bat Mitzvah Blessing .................40 Making Your Own Brit with God ............14 Why Does Bar/Bat Mitzvah Happen at The Brit Milah Ceremony ........................15 Thirteen? ................................................41 An Elijah Story .........................................18 The Tallit ....................................................42 Simhat Bat Ceremony ..............................19 Design your own Tallit .............................43 Wimples ....................................................21 “What Is The Most Important Verse in the My Name is… ..........................................22 Torah?” ...................................................44 Family ..........................................23 A Bar/Bat Mitzvah Looks Like This ........45 Mishpahah/Bayit ......................................24 Acting like An Adult ................................46 My Family Map ........................................25 Standing at Sinai ......................................47 Family Obligations ...................................26 Confirmation and Shavuot ......................48 The Peace Pudding ...................................28 Check Off the Top Three Jewish Things You Will Pledge ......................................49 Jewish Divorce ..........................................29 Gabriel’s Ark .............................................50 Be a Family Counselor .............................30 Whole-Life Learning ...............................54 Portrait of a Divorce .................................31 Adoption ...................................................32 3 6722-1.indd 3 06/02/2017 10:40:44 AM Marriage ......................................56 Growing Old ..............................77 Getting Married .......................................57 Respecting the Elderly .............................78 Finding Each Other ..................................58 The Meaning of Old.................................79 The Jewish Wedding ................................59 Pirke Avot 5.24 .........................................80 Mikvah ......................................................62 Death ..........................................81 Marriage Words ........................................64 The Jewish Way of Death .........................82 Four Different Ketubot ............................65 Mourning Stages ......................................85 Text of the Ketubah ..................................66 Why We Say Kaddish for Only Eleven Orthodox ..................................................66 Months ...................................................86 Conservative .............................................67 What Happens After We Die? .................88 Reform ......................................................68 The Kaddish .............................................89 Design Your Own Ketubah ......................69 Ethical Wills ..............................................90 Rabbi Akiva and Rachel ...........................70 Your Ethical Will .......................................91 The Marriage Service ...............................72 How to Visit a Shiva House .....................94 X-Raying the Sheva Brakhot ...................75 Why I Joined Our Hevra Kaddisha .........95 Commitment Ceremonies .......................76 4 6722-1.indd 4 06/02/2017 10:40:46 AM Th e Circle of Life At the beginning of The Lion King, Simba is born. All of the animals in the jungle gather and sing “The Circle of Life.” How is life a circle? ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 5 6722-1.indd 5 06/02/2017 10:41:03 AM A Jewish Life When we go through the Circle of Jewish life we are reliving moments that have happened to other Jews. Put these moments in the order in which they happen in our lives, not by their order in the Bible. (Hint: First we are born.) ____ Rabbi Akiva began to study Torah at the age of forty. ____ (According to a midrash) Abraham was thirteen years old when he smashed his father’s idols. ____ Adam and Eve were the fi rst married couple. ____ Abraham bought a cave so that he could bury his dead wife Sarah. ____ On the eighth day after he was born, Abraham’s son was circumcised. ____ Moses gave three major sermons to the Jewish people when he was one hundred-and twenty years old. ____ Abraham and Sarah waited a long time but they fi nally gave birth to a son, Isaac. 6 6722-1.indd 6 06/02/2017 10:41:07 AM Th e Tree It is a Jewish custom to plant a tree on the day when a baby is born. As the child grows, the tree grows. When that child is ready to get married the parents cut branches from the tree and use them to hold up the huppah, the wedding canopy. This custom is a ritual. A ritual is a way of expressing deep ideas or even stories through actions. 1. What does this ritual say to the parents of a newborn baby? 2. What does this ritual say to the parents of a child who is ready to get married? 3. How does this ritual help to show that life is a circle? © IMAGES.COM/CORBIS 7 6722-1.indd 7 06/02/2017 10:41:13 AM Birth: Entering the Covenant According to the Talmud, God sends an angel to each womb to teach a baby all the wisdom that can be obtained. Just before the baby is born, the angel touches the space between the upper lip and the nose and all that it has taught the baby is forgotten. (Niddah 30b) 1. What does this story teach about the purpose of life? 2. What does this story teach about learning? 3. What does this story teach about being a newborn? 8 6722-1.indd 8 06/02/2017 10:41:22 AM.