INTRODUCTION:
LIFE-CYCLES AND THE CYCLE OF LIFE

Taken from "Caring for the Cycle of Life"

Jewish tradition provides, through ritual, ceremony, and celebration, a way of appreciating and understanding our journey as natural beings and our place as Earthly creatures. We bring newborns into the Covenant of our people through brit milah and naming ceremonies. We welcome the maturing young person into the realm of responsibility through Bar/Bat Mitzvah--through the forging of a personal relationship to our tradition. We call upon the Eternal's presence when two people commit themselves to each other. And we affirm the Living God when our loved ones pass by saying Kaddish. On these profound occasions, we draw close to our spiritual core, to our families, to our people, to our Creator. We reflect on our lives and what it is that we hold most dear.

When we celebrate our life-cycles, we focus on our humanness, on our capacities for spiritual endeavor and moral action--on the qualities which distinguish us from other creatures. In the emotional and spiritual profundity of our life-cycle ceremonies and celebrations, we often forget that we are creatures of flesh and blood, that we are dependent on water, soil, and air, that we are created from the dust of the Earth.

Yet every aspect of our live's is intimately connected to the cycles of life on Earth. And unfortunately, our life-affirming celebrations often cast a shadow on the Earth--usually of big garbage bags full of plastic cups and spoons, paper plates, fancy invitations,. and burst balloons. Ironically, we have become accustomed to celebrating our own life-cycles in ways that are, in discord with the life-cycles of the Earth.

This Guide will demonstrate how your life-cycle celebration or simchah (joyous occasion) can provide an opportunity for you both to think about your connection with the larger web of life and to act on behalf of all of Creation. Through the planning of our ceremonies and rituals, through quiet contemplation and thoughtful conversation, and through striving to make our celebrations and observances as environmentally caring as possible, we can affirm our connection to the living world around us.