RGST12 Week 4 Blog

Discuss the mourning practices of either Judaism or ancient China in terms of the 3 dimensions of religion we have worked with to this point (Mythical, Ritual, Social).  What is ritualistic in mourning, and what purpose does the ritual serve?  How are the narratives of the tradition employed in mourning practices or in the shape given to mourning?  What social effects does/can mourning have?  How do these dimensions work together/against each other?  Focus on one tradition from Tuesday's readings, but feel free to make references to others as need be.

According to Emile Durkheim, ritual is much more essential to religion than belief. Mourning itself is a ritual that isn't just done privately, its purpose is to grieve along with the community, through which the community may repair itself and be whole again. The ritual of mourning brings people together and religion grows stronger and more powerful through it. 
Myth also support the community because it creates social groups. Judaism was created based off of the myth of Abraham. Jews come together as the descendants of Abraham and form a strong community of people who share the same beliefs, customs, rites and rituals.
One social aspect of the Jewish religion that draws from myth is the annual ritual of Passover. Passover began as a ritual dinner inspired by a story from the Old Testament. The Egyptian King feared the rise of the Hebrews so he sent his men to kill all newborn males of Hebrew women. Moses was saved, and later grew and returned to Egypt to warn the Egyptians that if they did not stop, God would punish them severely. Since the Egyptians did not listen, God sent down 10 plagues, and Passover is derived from the 10th plague, when the Angel of Death passed over Hebrew homes that were marked with lamb's blood on the door in order to show their allegiance to God. The Jewish tradition of Passover then carried on to symbolize Jesus as the lamb of sacrifice. This tradition is a very social aspect of the Jewish religion because it brings the community together to celebrate the sacrifice Jesus made, and to ultimately to show their powerful beliefs through a strong community.
The Kaddish is a traditional Jewish prayer of mourning, that praises God and asks for the God's kingdom to be established on earth. The Kaddish is traditionally said at funerals at the time of burial. If a man loses one or bot parents, even adoptive parents, he must recite the Kaddish for eleven months. The opening words of the Kaddish were inspired by a myth from the book of Ezekiel describing a time when "God will become great in the eyes of all nations," and the response from the mourners is a declaration of their belief in God, his greatness and his holiness. (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/kaddish.html) 
When Jewish mourners recite the Kaddish, it works to bring the community together. Mourners recite the Kaddish in unison, showing the strong ties within the Jewish community and interconnecting everyone in it. Looking back to what Durkheim said on mourning as a ritual, the Kaddish, helps the community to repair itself by mourning with one another,and providing social support. It strengthens the community, brings people together to fill a void present due to the loss of one of its members.