Jewish Passages

Cycles of Jewish Life
By Harvey E. Goldberg
(379 Pages)Publisher: University of California Press, 2003

A multifaceted account of how we celebrate and observe the cycles of life. Goldberg draws on his own experience as well as classic sources and the latest research to create a nuanced depiction of how ordinary Jews balance the reality of today with the authority of tradition in their rituals and customs.

Looking at classic rites of passage such as circumcision and marriage, along with emerging practices such as pilgrimage and identity-seeking tourism, Jewish passages describes the remarkable cultural and religious diversity within contemporary Judaism. Blending anecdote, historical vignettes, and rabbinic, midrashic, and anthropological insights, Harvey Goldberg explores Sephardi and Ashkenazi traditions as well as modern ideologies. In this work, he brings into sharp relief the activities of women and relations with Gentile neighbors, offering a new view of Jewish culture and history with the individual firmly situated at its center. Jewish Passages thus provides a unique window on the particulars and the significance of personal and communal acts of identification among Jews of the past, present, and future.

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