Living Religions of the West
Religion -- Question
Describe how an ethics may define and respond to "nature," and show how this is accomplished in the Jewish rituals of Bar and Bat Mitzvah and in the New Testament story of the rich young man told to follow self-renunciation.
Religion is often construed, especially by modern critics, as something that acts in an unnatural fashion upon the human character, especially in terms of how religious laws govern human impulses. In other words, religion is thought of an imposition, for better or for worse, upon the natural and unfettered structures of human physical and moral development. Indeed, some aspects of ethical religious traditions are monastic and see 'nature' and natural or at least bodily human impulses as inherently contrary to the moral life, and thus demand renunciation from the world and natural bodily impulses and appetites. However, religious law can also be seen as a creative and comforting response to natural, developmental challenges and crisis, particularly those faced by adolescents coming to terms with their place in society.
A familiar way to construe Jewish responses to the confusing and chaotic structure of life is to refer to the 613 commandments as a kind of comforting ethical response and structure. Viewed as such,...
Through the function of this ritual, the boy becomes aware of the fact that now he assumes the weight as well as the freedom of adulthood. Thus, the Bar Mitzvah can also be seen as an ethical, pedagogical response to a dangerous time of life, that of male adolescence, where an individual's sense of self is rather blurry and indeterminate. Because of his temporarily confused developing physical state, the body's body image is in a state of flux. Because of the societal and emotional questions of early adolescence asked by the boy's self and his community -- child or man -- the boy's self, identity, and body presents a potential site of danger. The ritual act of confirming the boy's ethical obligations to the community presents both the community and the boy with structure and a comfort that he is a part of the community, albeit in a new fashion. With the social changes regarding women in America, the Bat Mitzvah now does the same with girls, acting, through its addition to the Jewish ritual structure, as another kind of comfort, that women as well as men have social obligations to the Jewish community that are significant…
