Ritual or Meaning?
Many thanks to Valerie for the inspiration for today's posting.
On April 23, Hella Winston published an opinion piece in the New York Times that is particularly relevant to this blog. To avoid copyright infringement, I provide just the link, but in short, Ms. Winston describes a growing community of Jews who formerly were part of devoutly observant sects of Judaism, but now have turned away from that towards their own redefinition of Judaism. What they celebrate sounds like something we should all strive for - meaning and community over ritual and observance.
As I sit in synagogue or church, I listen to people participate in ritual that they know by memory, but which I worry that they frequently don't understand. I can't help remembering an occassion when the rabbi's schedule got delayed mid-service and he invited questions from the congregation. One congregant asked the meaning of a passage in one of our prayers/songs - he wanted the literal translation from Hebrew, and how that related to our observance. What he got instead was an involved sermon about how important the prayer was - roughly paraphrased, the rabbi said we do this because we're supposed to do it.
Likewise, the church my wife attends has taken to a call and response opening to services that seems to be recited by rote without any thought. The message is wonderful: "God is good all the time, and all the time God is good!" However, with people just reponding to a program, are they even hearing the message anymore? I feel they reply because they're supposed to, not because they mean it. In contrast, the prayer of confession each week is unique, giving people the opportunity to absorb new words and meaning each time they think about their transgressions. Closely associated is the silent prayer time so people can connect with God in their own ways. These opportunities for new manifestations of faith and for reflection are essential for rituals to obtain meaning.
Religion shouldn't be about ritual alone. Rules don't make you holy. Spirituality makes you holy. Spirituality comes from meaning, from understanding, and from connecting. Don't let your holidays become only about what food you can or can't eat - make sure that above all observances are about what is being observed and why, even (especially) for the weekly sabbath and routine home observance. The rules are there to connect us with each other and to help us remember, not to stand on their own. Better that you understand and follow one rule fully than that you obey them all and not know why.
posted by Michael A. Seidman @ 11:19 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Mike,
You make a good point about empty ritual, however I believe that there is an important role for ritual in religion. Basically, I think ritual can be the path to spirituality. Ritual helps put us in a "spiritual frame of mind" and allows our consciousness to move to a more spiritual plane. Let me give you an example. One Rosh Hashonah, many years ago, I attended services at my brother's synagogue, which was Conservative bordering on Orthodox. I was a little apprehensive about attending the service, which was to last from 9AM to Noon, because the service was going to be almost all in Hebrew. Now, after a quasi-Orthodox upbringing, I can read Hebrew fairly well, but I can't translate it. So, I was expecting to be very bored. What I found, however, was that the service was less boring that my usual Reform service conducted mostly in English. What I think happened was that praying in Hebrew was a consciousness-raising experience and much more spiritual than praying in English. I think it was because I didn't know what I was saying and that allowed my mind to go to that higher plane rather than focusing on the words that I was saying.
One time I heard a Reform Rabbi give a sermon about the history and evolution of the Reform movement. He said that the efforts by the early Reformers to eliminate most ritual from religious observance "threw the baby out with the bath water." I tend to agree with that and find that ritual enhances my spiritual experience.
Jeff
Jeff, thank you for your comments - I agree completely! Anyone want to chime in with other examples of how ritual can be meaningful instead of empty?
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