Since time immemorial, throughout the world, and across all cultures and faiths, we have marked the passages of human life, from birth to death, by celebrating life cycle events. The rituals, symbols and ceremonies of life cycle events have evolved with our changing ideas, beliefs and needs.
In our ceremonies, we incorporate meaningful traditions and values from our rich Jewish heritage, and from other cultures. In creating our custom ceremonies we adopt or adapt existing ones to ensure that all ceremonies are egalitarian and do not include theistic language or worship. They are respectful and inclusive and serve the needs of Jewish and intercultural/interfaith couples and families, as well as the LGBTQ2S+ communities.
The more common life cycle events are Brit Shalom (baby namings), B- Mitzvah (bar/bat/b’nai mitzvah), and memorials or funerals.
Some purposes of Humanistic Jewish life cycle ceremonies are: