World PRESENTS New Rituals at Orchard Mali Friday, October 28th, 7 — 9 P.M. join Miss Firecrackerfrr tke pqictx.s.,/ P-Tour svite.re tint '7 part Ztise skew, s'itk our 1•114SiC, PUT X11. • Wear your costume for a chance to win The Ultimate Trick-or-Treat Bag! Must be 14 or under to win. • No boo-hoos here! All kids in costumes will receive special Halloween surprises! * Spooktacular games and prizes! • Scavenger Hunt from store to store. • Trick-or-treating! Jews look outside synagogues for new lifecycle events. rthard Mail Has Beef! ie- Via Nig Sue Fishkoff Completeiy Renovated! Jewish Telegraphic Agency Berkeley, Calif s Peek in at some of our .577)n.5": WEST BLOOMFIELD • MICHIGAN Orrhaid IA( Road • North Aqua Salon Spa The Beauty Lounge Slades Gift Shop Toys 3 Lyle 248.851.7727 Luxury 2 Package, heated/cooled front memory seats, XM radio, Stabiltrak BREAK 45, THROUGH 7100 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield Mon. & Thurs. till 9; Tues., Wed., Fri. til 6 248-851-7200 www.audettecadillac.com *$2598.04 due @ signing on CTS. $2381 due @ signing on DTS. 36 mths/12k per year. Must qualify for GMS. Must take out of Audette stock. 44 C3, CD am Sontag's parents wanted him to have a bar mitzvah, but they aren't religious and felt it would be hypocritical to join a congrega- tion. Shalva Sorani is active in her Berkeley, Calif., congregation, but when she faced a mastectomy her friends wanted a female rabbi to lead their all-women healing circle. These are some of the people served by Rachel Brodie and Julie Batz, founders and co-directors of the Ritualist, a Bay Area-based nonprofit that researches and supports independent Jewish lifecycle rituals — weddings, funerals, bar and bat mitzvahs — and other events held outside the framework of a synagogue. It's a growing trend nationwide, Brodie says. A Jewish educator who holds a master's degree from the Conservative movement's Jewish Theological Seminary, Brodie says people began asking her to do their Jewish ceremonies almost a decade ago. The phenomenon is going on especially in the San Francisco Bay area, a region with particu- larly low affiliation rates. Just 22 percent of Bay Area Jewish households belong to syna- gogues, according to a recent sur- vey. When these people want a Jewish ceremony to mark an important lifecycle event, Brodie and Batz say, they don't know where to go. "There's so much going on in the Jewish community under the term 'outreach, and this is an example of people who don't belong reaching out to the syna- gogue community," says Batz, a business consultant and shaliach tzibur, or service leader, for a local congregation. "It's a tremen- dous opportunity for us to say, `We'd like you to have a really deep, meaningful Jewish experi- ence:" But what this trend actually produces is up for debate, as some say it merely provides a one-time rabbi rather than strengthening the Jewish com- munity. In early 2004, Brodie and Batz secured a research grant from the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund. They were shocked to find more than 100 rabbis, cantors, Jewish educators and other ritual facilitators working actively in the East Bay alone, conducting traditional rituals as well as cre- ating a whole host of new ones: • mikvah ceremonies for rape victims; • New Age healing circles with Jewish prayers; • a coming-of-age ritual for a boy who had just received his drivers' license. But Brodie and Batz found no organization connecting the peo- ple who want these ceremonies with the professionals ready to help them. As the two women built up their database of facilita- tors, and as more Jews heard of their work and started contacting them, they found themselves pro- viding a personal referral service. They talk to the people who call and try to connect them with appropriate clergy or lay facilita- tors. Some of the callers are young and haven't settled perma- nently in the area. Others haven't found a synagogue where they feel comfortable. Some, says Batz, "are on the margins of the Jewish communi- ty," often because they're interra- cial or interfaith couples or are gay or lesbian. They want to mark life-cycle events Jewishly, but don't feel comfortable in tra- ditional congregations. Later this fall, Brodie and Batz October 20 2005 JN