Reimagine Initiation Rites

Prv. 22:5

Amichai Lau-Lavie (he/him)

Dec 04, 2024

What we need these days are more rituals of initiation. From one life phase to another - with the wisdom of elders and the ancient ways to help us through each threshold with grace, grit and goodwill.

One of the most familiar and most quoted verses in Proverbs is in today’s chapter - and I’ve also known this one by heart since childhood. It’s about education - but really it is about the need for rites of passage and initiation.

I remember reading these words, printed on my report card in 5th Grade, at the Religious Boys School I attended in Israel:

חֲנֹ֣ךְ לַ֭נַּעַר עַל־פִּ֣י דַרְכּ֑וֹ גַּ֥ם כִּי־יַ֝זְקִ֗ין לֹֽא־יָס֥וּר מִמֶּֽנָּה׃

Train children in the way they each ought to go;

They will not swerve from it even in old age.

Prv. 22:5

The notion of educating kids per their individual needs seems like surprisingly impressive pedagogy for the 5th century BCE biblical times. Approaching young learners with the learning needs and levels that most engage them is not how we imagine the generations of more austere schooling methods, especially as previous chapters in Proverbs celebrate corporal punishment as a suitable strategy as well.

To better understand this verse and its context we must look closer at the first verb in the text that can be understood in very different ways.

The word used in this English translation “train” - is the Hebrew word chanoch, which is related to the word chinuch, “education.” Other translations indeed choose ‘educate’ or ‘teach’.

But there may be another intention here - how to dedicate or initiate something or someone.

According to scholars, the original meaning of the root chanach is “to begin, to initiate.” This is related to, but differs slightly from the popular perception that it means “to dedicate.” The use of this term is familiar from the name of the upcoming holiday - Chanukah - Rededication.

So it’s possible that what we see here is a forgotten tradition of rites of passage that help youth move from childhood to adulthood. Today’s B-Mitzvah rituals are a shadow of what these initiatory rites may have been - and there are many in today’s modern reality trying to reclaim and reimagine what those may be and how they can be applied.

Sarai Shapiro & Zelig Golden of Wilderness Torah, respected colleagues of mine, wrote these words a decade ago, claiming the case for reimagined Jewish initiation rites, to “Meet youth where they are”:

Whatever Wisdom meant in todays’ chapter - the words have gone down from generation to “For thousands of years in cultures the world over, rites of passage brought children into the next phase of their lives with self-awareness and confidence, in part by recognizing how integral these core elements are…While we think about the next generation of Jewish youth, we can draw inspiration from other cultures that have made this transition meaningful and relevant. After all, this transition has been happening since the beginning of human history—and tribes throughout the world have designed processes for a safe passage through what can be the most precarious threshold of a person’s life.

What does it mean, then, to meet a child at the threshold of adolescence? It means giving them tools and trials that mirror the challenges of pending adulthood, preparing them to thrive in their new adult lives, which benefits the individual while helping to ensure the resiliency of the entire community.”

Generation later, the words of Wisdom are likely still printed on report cards of at least some of Israel’s schools and likely in many other Jewish schools around the world.

But we may have forgotten about some of the power tools used in our ancient rites of passage.

What will it take for us to reimagine initiation rites, not just for teens but for each life stage and transition, inspired by our own history as well as those of others, meeting these complicated times with courage and wisdom, honesty and creativity?

Like my colleagues at Wilderness Torah - I am also working with my team at Lab/Shul on this concept - read more about the initial stages of Becoming. Initiating each other through life’s milestones is our ancient way of always, wisely, growing up.

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Below the Bible Belt

Reimagine Initiation Rites

Prv. 22:5

What we need these days are more rituals of initiation. From one life phase to another - with the wisdom of elders and the ancient ways to help us through each threshold with grace, grit and goodwill.

One of the most familiar and most quoted verses in Proverbs is in today’s chapter - and I’ve also known this one by heart since childhood. It’s about education - but really it is about the need for rites of passage and initiation.

I remember reading these words, printed on my report card in 5th Grade, at the Religious Boys School I attended in Israel:

חֲנֹ֣ךְ לַ֭נַּעַר עַל־פִּ֣י דַרְכּ֑וֹ גַּ֥ם כִּי־יַ֝זְקִ֗ין לֹֽא־יָס֥וּר מִמֶּֽנָּה׃

Train children in the way they each ought to go;

They will not swerve from it even in old age.

Prv. 22:5

To better understand this verse and its context we must look closer at the first verb in the text that can be understood in very different ways.

The word used in this English translation “train” - is the Hebrew word chanoch, which is related to the word chinuch, “education.” Other translations indeed choose ‘educate’ or ‘teach’.

But there may be another intention here - how to dedicate or initiate something or someone.

According to scholars, the original meaning of the root chanach is “to begin, to initiate.” This is related to, but differs slightly from the popular perception that it means “to dedicate.” The use of this term is familiar from the name of the upcoming holiday - Chanukah - Rededication.

Sarai Shapiro & Zelig Golden of Wilderness Torah, respected colleagues of mine, wrote these words a decade ago, claiming the case for reimagined Jewish initiation rites, to “Meet youth where they are”:

Generation later, the words of Wisdom are likely still printed on report cards of at least some of Israel’s schools and likely in many other Jewish schools around the world.

But we may have forgotten about some of the power tools used in our ancient rites of passage.

What will it take for us to reimagine initiation rites, not just for teens but for each life stage and transition, inspired by our own history as well as those of others, meeting these complicated times with courage and wisdom, honesty and creativity?

Like my colleagues at Wilderness Torah - I am also working with my team at Lab/Shul on this concept - read more about the initial stages of Becoming. Initiating each other through life’s milestones is our ancient way of always, wisely, growing up.

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