Every religion, ancient and modern, has special rites of passage tied to both biological and sociological events that typify life. These rituals flow seamlessly from birth through puberty, marriage, and death. During the past half-century, rites have been created to match newly recognized passages. As people live longer and, in America, become more affluent and thus gain leisure time, newly conceptualized stages emerge, such as adolescence, midlife, empty nest, menopause, and golden age. In addition, family formations have shifted, leading to new rituals. In Judaism, special life cycle rituals have surrounded birth, puberty, marriage, death, and mourning. At the same time, traditional rites have been revised and expanded, particularly as a result of the influence of the women’s movement. Mothers, as well as fathers, have sought and even demanded inclusion in birth, adolescent, and marriage rituals for themselves and for their daughters.

This essay is focused on factors within and outside of the communal life of twentieth-century American Jewry that enhanced the salience of the traditional rites of passage accompanying birth, puberty, marriage, and death. Particular attention is paid to developments in the American Jewish cultural and religious context of the last quarter of the twentieth century. The contraction, expansion, and transformation of rites of passage is explored within several of the many expressions of American Judaism. The impact of the Jewish feminist movement that grew out of the Conservative movement and spread to Modern Orthodoxy and Reform, the empowering of laity through the Havurah and New Age spirituality movements, and the reintroduction of traditional rituals to Reform Judaism are considered as formative elements enhancing the significance of life cycle rituals in contemporary American Jewish life.