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3. Material Culture: New Rituals and Ritual Objects
- Jewish Publication Society
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MATERIAL CULTURE: NEW RITUALS AND RITUAL OBJECTS C H A P T E R 3 M R eligious objects have great power. Serving as spiritual agents, they produce a sense of religious identity, prompt holy and ethical actions, and forge connections between the individual and the Jewish community. While not all new Jewish rituals are linked to new ritual objects, a good many are. Some objects—such as an orange on the seder plate, a Miriam’s cup, a mezuzah made from the shards of glass shattered at a wedding ceremony, even a car mezuzah—may be even more familiar than the rituals in which they are used. Consequently, we need to understand how the study of material culture can illuminate our understanding of the role objects play in new Jewish rituals. Beginning with Objects “I want to create a new Jewish ritual to welcome our adopted baby. What do we need to say and do? What do we need to get?” Many assume this is how a new ritual practice emerges: Step one— someone has an idea, expresses a belief, or states a need. Step two—she or he designs a liturgy (that is, a text to be said or sung) and a ceremony. Step three: the objects needed—say, a special cup, a tambourine, a ceremonial cloth—are found or made. Step four: with all the elements Baruch Ha-car? If it is affixed to your car with a magnet, it’s called a car mezuzah, even if it is not actually a legitimate mezuzah with parchment, but rather a container for the traveler’s prayer. If it is to be carried or hung from the rearview mirror , it is called by the tongue-in-cheek title “Baruch ha-Car.” I did not understand how such an object, evoking the traditional mezuzah hung in doorways, was meant to be used, even after I had seen it described in a Judaica catalogue: The Baruch Ha-Car Traveler’s Prayer offers spiritual comfort for travelers along life’s highways. This cylindrical capsule of solid brass and clear acrylic contains a traditional prayer for those setting out on journeys. The traditional mezuzah belongs on the outside and inside doors of one’s house—but on one’s car? At first, this very idea of turning a mezuzah into a car protector seemed to me misguided. (Though I had to acknowledge that thousands of Jews wear mezuzah-shaped necklaces and find them so affirming of their Jewish identity that they never take them off.) Then one day in Colorado, I was given a ride by a rabbi I had been visiting. In his car—affixed to the door on the driver’s side by a magnet—I saw my first car mezuzah in use. He explained that he spent a lot of time in his car and tended to be a “lead foot.” His wife gave him the car mezuzah to remind him to drive slowly and safely, for his sake and for others. Seeing it being used meaningfully by a rabbi I admired challenged my earlier misgivings . If the presence of this new object prompted the rabbi, over and over again, to “choose life”—a central Jewish concept—was it not serving a valid and sacred ritual role? 88 INVENTING JEWISH RITUAL assembled—the idea, the words, and the props—the new ritual is performed . In a word, spoken liturgies, texts, actions, and ritual objects are all developed or collected, and then integrated, to concretize or enact beliefs. The creation of new ritual is usually far more complex than this orderly, belief-driven scenario. A new ritual practice can emerge because a concrete object has been created, borrowed, or transformed. After a practice has been reenacted over time, a set of beliefs might emerge. For example, a song, which is a kind of artifact, can give rise to a practice. (Here I am thinking of Debbie Friedman’s rendition of the traditional healing prayer, Mi Shebeirach. Her song was adopted by hundreds of congregations, and its use, for many, has established a conviction that God’s healing presence can be invoked and felt.) The object—in this case, the song—has what can be referred to as agency. Over time, the singing of this song causes beliefs about Jewish healing to emerge and become established. At times, we may encounter a new object that has appeared within Jewish life and that is still calling out for a ritual and a set...