I’ve been working on a ritual for Yom HaShoah. I was originally going to begin research and work on the Mourner’s Kaddish, but this lead me to looking at Yom HaShoah.
I’m finding it remarkably difficult to actually write the ritual. I keep bursting into tears, which completely surprised me. I’ve worked through most of the ritual in my head, but now I just need to move it onto paper. I suppose with the emotional subject matter I shouldn’t be surprised that I’m responding to it.
Part of what I was exploring was how do we experience this holiday. Do we remember with joy the lives lived or do we mourn the lives lost. The path the ritual has taken is a deep mourning followed by slowly moving to joy. The beginning of the ritual is almost silent, which causes most people discomfort. The end slowly moves to song, which are eventually joyful and even silly.
My hope is that people will mourn the tragic loss of life and the horror of genocide — but then be grateful to be alive and able to prevent that kind of horror. The ritual although focused on the Holocaust will also allow acknowledgment of other genocides that have occurred throughout history.
I think it will be a different kind of ritual than I usually write. I’m relying less on the Pagan model I usually use and following a narrative idea this time. I do think more research into Jewish views and practices for mourning will enhance it in the end.
Visit the Prayer Archive
I’ve been researching government resources on the Web for work lately, and came across this site. The page is the “Prayer Archive” for the prayers said each day before the House of Representatives begins work. It does seem odd that in a country that officially espouses separation of church and state that a government website would house a “Prayer Archive.” I’ve always known that there was a chaplain, but I figured he was more of a behind-the-scenes resource for members of Congress.
It’s sad that all of the guest clergy appear to be Christian, with a Rabbi here and there. There seem to be several “Universalists,” but I imagine their view may be very close to a Christian one. It would seem more appropriate for guest clergy to be of different paths and perspectives to help expose Congress to the variety of citizens that represent. Why shouldn’t there be Buddhists, B’hai, Hindus, Muslims, and of course, Pagans represented?
I have no issue with the chaplain being Christian while the majority of Congress is. The chaplain’s primary role is to act as spiritual advisor. Not to say that a B’hai chaplain couldn’t act as a spiritual advisor just as well.
You can nominate someone to be a guest chaplain. I’d be thrilled to see someone nominate and acutally get someone other than a Christian and a main-stream Rabbi as guest clergy.
So as a result of my reading/research binge to get ready for the workshops I’m doing in July I’ve been playing with a few new ideas - here’s one.
Triple Goddess Figure / Archetype as represented in Judaism:
- Maiden - Sabbath
the eternal bride who comes to rejuvinate us
- Mother - Shekinah
The Presence who watches over us and cares for us
- Crone - Torah
The venerated elder who is dressed in fine robes, given the place of
honor, and looked to for wisdom
The Sabbath as Goddess figure is pretty common I realize, as is clearly Shekhinah, but I started looking at Torah as being elevated to Goddess level the last time I went to a Sabbath service with a local Renewal group. I started looking at the people dancing around with it, reaching for it, kissing it, and treating the scrolls with such incredible reverence — that it seemed beyond respect for a sacred text.
I started seeing the pattern of the triple goddess archetype appearing and
thought it was interesting. Granted, traditional scholars would balk at this — but that is why I’m looking at it as an archetype, like the Sephirot of the kabbalist tree of life.
