How do Reconstructionist communities approach life cycle passages?
We begin by affirming traditional life cycle rituals and strive to discover personal meaning within these rituals and the values they represent. We reconstruct traditional rituals to conform to a current idiom and develop new life cycle events and liturgy to mark a meaningful passage with a uniquely Jewish stamp. For example, Reconstructionist communities have created rituals for retirement, leaving home for college, weaning, and menopause. The power of a life cycle ritual inheres as much from the ritual itself as from the support of the community that joins together to embrace the occasion.
