How do Conservative Jews celebrate life cycle events?

Brit milah / Simchat Bat (Brit bat)
     Judaism has traditionally welcomed baby boys into the covenant with the Brit Milah, a ritual circumcision performed in the presence of family and friends in a ceremonial manner, followed by a celebratory meal.  However, baby girls were only welcomed with a smaller and more private naming ceremony.  In recent years Jews have developed a parallel ceremony for girls which is now known as the Simchat Bat or Brit Bat.  While still evolving, it has gained acceptance in Jewish communities of all denominations.

     The Brit Bat contains a communal welcoming, a naming done over a cup of wine with the quotation of appropriate biblical verses, and traditional blessings.  While Jews of course do not perform female circumcision, a ritual does takes place which has an equivalent meaning.  "Moreh Derekh", the new rabbi's manual of the RA, presents a ceremony based on traditional Jewish forms, with a number of options that parents may choose to perform: (A) Lighting seven candles (symbolizing the seven days of creation) and holding the baby towards them, (B)  Wrapping the baby in the four corners of a tallit, or (C) Lifting the baby and touching her hands to a Torah scroll.


Bar / Bat Mitzvah
       When a Jewish child reaches the age of majority (12 for girls, 13 for boys) that child then becomes responsible for him/herself under Jewish law.  Previous to this age, responsibility is with the parents.  After this age they are now privileged to participate in all areas of Jewish communal life, and they bear their own responsibility in the areas of Jewish ritual law, tradition, and ethics.

     Since medieval times it has been traditional for a boy to publicly celebrate becoming Bar Mitzvah.  On the Shabbat after his 13th birthday, he reads from the Torah and Haftara, gives a d'var Torah and leads part of the prayer services.  This is followed by a celebratory meal with family, friends, and members of the community.  However, except in Italy, no such ceremony evolved at that time for Jewish girls.  Today this has changed.  The Conservative movement teaches parents to educate both their male and female children in Jewish law and to commit them to living a normative Jewish life.  This includes celebrating a girl's Bat Mitzvah in the same fashion as a boy's.  Overwhelmingly, most Conservative shuls have egalitarian participation in which women may read from the Torah and lead services.  However, the movement is pluralistic, and some synagogues are still concerned about the halakhic propriety of women publicly layning Torah; in such congregations girls read from the Haftara.


Jewish wedding
     In general, marriage in the Conservative community follows the same laws and traditions that one finds in Orthodoxy.  One difference is that the Conservative movement allows certain changes to be made in the Ketubah (wedding document) to make it egalitarian.  Often a clause is added to prevent any possibility of the women ever becoming agunah (The Lieberman clause), or a t'nai (prenupual agreement) is signed which has the same effect.  In contrast, most Ashkenazic Orthodox rabbis have canonized the text of the Ketubah, and no longer allow for it to be changed;  Reform Jews usually do not use a kosher Ketubah at their weddings;  They instead use a short wedding certificate.

     Conservative Jews accept new minhagim in the wedding ceremony.  At the giving of the ring the groom makes a declaration "You are consecrated to me under the laws of Moses and Israel".  Traditionally there was no reciprocal response on the part of the bride.  Today most Conservative Jewish women respond by giving a ring to the groom, and recite an appropriate passage, such as the famous verse from the Song of Songs, "Ani dodi v'dodi Li" [I am for my beloved, and my beloved is for me].


Other events
     Life cycle events such as Pidyon ha'ben (redemption of the first born),
Divorces, and Funerals are not discussed here.  There is little difference between Conservative and Orthodox observance in these matters. For details on these events, please see "A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice" by Issac Klein, and "Moreh Derekh", the new rabbi's manual of the Rabbinical Assembly.