Liminality And Communitas Rhetorical Analysis

Religion plays a very important role in our lives and the society we live in. In the Jewish religion, when a boy is 13 years old, he must perform a religious ritual rite of passage so that he can enter adulthood and at this point he is held liable for his actions and must fulfill his responsibilities. Previous to this ritual, the boy must attend classes to learn the Hebrew language and this usually starts at a very young age. It is crucial for them to understand their culture therefore they can fully appreciate it. The boy must perform what is called a Mitzvot and in English this means a commandment and this is when they have to do a good deed for another individual and this is to show God that they promise to help others. The bar mitzvah ritual …show more content…
As Victor Turner explains in his text “Liminality and Communitas”, the middle stage of a rite of passage is called liminality and this allows for people to see the lower side of that society and experience it first hand. He believes that without this structural mobility there would be no social bond amongst the members belonging to that society. This does show that rites of passage does include power dynamics and in this case, whether in Judaism or any other religion, children are not members of society with much power, many rights, and responsibilities compared to an individual who has completed their bar mitzvah ceremony and have entered into adulthood. The best way to understand an individual is to experience what they go through that way we can see life from their perspective. Furthermore, The speeches during a bar mitzvah do have some significance to moving from one life stage to the next because it shows that they have learned something and that they recognize the growth and maturity that has brought them to this new life stage. Victor Turner says “speech is not merely communication but also power and wisdom (Turner, p.331)”. This quote exemplifies that being able to communicate with others demonstrates that they are individuals with intelligence and maturity and are now give the power as well as the freedom to express themselves. Without being able to join a new life …show more content…
This is shown when Victor Turner says “Relations between total beings are generative of symbols and metaphors and comparisons (Turner, P. 338)”. The comparisons between Judaism and Catholicism are very similar especially when looking at the Catholic rite of passage called First Communion. This ceremony is very similar to a bar mitzvah because a passage from the bible must be read and also because there is some preparation involved and this includes learning about the religion to fully understand and respect it. According to E.B. Tylor in the excerpt Religion in Primitive Culture he states “Animism in its full development, includes the belief the belief in souls and in a future state, in controlling deities and subordinate spirits (Tylor, p.26)”. This demonstrates that in any religion there is always a higher power in which we believe in and this is the base of rites of passage and is what keeps a society together because each individual believes in a spiritual being even though it is not tangible and this creates a bond between individuals in a