Lifecycle Events

Weddings ~ Baby Namings ~ Brises ~ Bar/Bat Mitzvah ~ Funerals ~ Unveilings ~

When you are planning a life-cycle event, it is an important moment in your life and the life of your family. You want to make sure everything goes smoothly, that it feels uniquely personal, and at the same time authentic to your Jewish heritage. You also want to have complete trust and confidence in the people who partner with you.

Rav Shoshana provided our son with a nurturing and supportive environment to prepare for his bar mitzvah. She artfully tapped into his learning style and incorporated that into the lessons. We appreciated how Rav Shoshana took time to get to know our entire family. She helped create the perfect bar mitzvah service and made it truly engaging and inclusive for everyone attending! Rav Shoshana’s easy and warm manner made the process, as well as the bar mitzvah itself, a memory we will always cherish.
~ Cheryl S. & family, Chappaqua, NY

In my experience conducting life cycle events offers the opportunity to mark sacred moments of meaning and connection:

  • standing under the wedding canopy (chuppah) and witnessing the miracle of two peoples’ love is a symbol of the eternal values of love, hope and endless possibilities;
    stef_dan_wedding_2stef_dan_wedding_2
  • honoring our children through brises, baby namings, bar/bat mitzvahs offers an opportunity to bring families together in celebration and to role model Jewish and universal values to the next generation;
    bar_mitzvah_3-14
  • conducting a funeral creates time and space to take stock of the whole of our loved one’s life~to celebrate their values, accomplishments, philosophies, and to acknowledge their shortcomings and if needed offer forgiveness;

New Rituals

There are also other special moments that call for meaningful recognition of change in our lives. Using the wisdom and symbols of Jewish tradition can be a creative, exhilarating, and fun process to co-create a personalized ritual uniquely for you.

  • baby adoption
  • commemorating a special birthday or anniversary
  • eldering/croning ceremony
  • mikveh ceremony before a wedding
  • becoming a grandparent

Rituals can also help mark the end of something in a way that allows you to move on:

  • selling one’s home
  • career change/retirement
  • entry to empty nest stage of life
  • marking recovery of an illness
  • divorce ritual

I look forward to celebrating, marking and honoring
those moments in your life that call for meaning.