Reviews for Rites of Passage: A Guide to the Jewish Life Cycle

The average rating for Rites of Passage: A Guide to the Jewish Life Cycle based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-02-25 00:00:00 Robin Datta As an academic it is true that my weekends have become more like my workdays and that Sunday church seems like yet another activity with responsibilities and planning, and not a true Sabbath. Looking to understand my situation, I have read a book by Gary Eberle "Sacred Time and the Search for Meaning." (2002 Shambhala). Gary Eberle is chair of the English Department at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This book explores the notion of time, the difference between secular and sacred time, and how these two notions bifurcated in the West's modern history. The beginning chapters dwell on the shortcomings of modern secular materialist life and mourn the loss of certain sensibility. If you are familiar with other Shambhala authors, you will recognize this critique. It sounds almost as a litany at this point, and Eberle does not make an original contribution here. Eberle takes the Middle Ages as a base for which to talk about sacred time. He talks about the rise of monasticism and the book of hours as evidence of how people live in an age that integrates religious sensibilities with daily life. I was more captivated by the section on the medieval book of hours, the Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. I myself have had the chance to examine one such medieval book, a garter book, and found in it a technology that guided people through meditations everywhere and anywhere. I wonder, do people use palm pilots and Blackberries like this already? Eberle talks about how, from a monastic need for regular meditation, we developed the clock and how this invention forced us to think about time in a far more structured fashion. Eberle speaks from a Catholic background, although he speaks intelligently about other religious traditions and uses them to inform his perspective. In one chapter he tells about a sabbatical year where he experimented with following the Catholic liturgical year and "keeping the Sabbath holy," that is attending church regularly and not working on Sundays. He writes. I discovered that when we keep the Sabbath on a regular basis we learn to live our lives which acquire a different sense than if we treat every day the same. Sabbaths or holy days/holidays impart a different emotional feel than ordinary days. They mark epochs, years, turning points, and cycles and allow colors of our lives. Sabbath keeping allows us to experience live as if it were a symphony with fast and slow movements. Through observance of holy days, the year attains a dramatic rhythm full of emotional intensity. Many believe that there is only one way to celebrate the Sabbath but in truth there are infinite ways, for the experience of sacred time is the experience of being itself and cannot be limited to historic forms. The spirit will manifest itself in manifold ways, and over time old traditions will be reshaped and new one will come to be. The important thing is to stop, be receptive, and find the fine balance point between tradition and innovation. It is his experiment with keeping the Sabbath that are the meat of the book. His afterword is a meditation on the meanings of the eschatology of the end times, beginning from Zaratusthra through St. Agustin. As you begin the new year, perhaps instead of focusing on resolutions that fulfill your ego needs, perhaps it is time to look at the calendar with a religious sensibility and plan to observe certain days were you can think back and retreat.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-01-02 00:00:00 Taylor Allen Read for graduate school. Review to come.