Ending Relationships

The dissolution of a relationship is heartbreaking. Years of shared love and commitment can turn to bitterness and acrimony. Even friendly separations generate feelings of sorrow and loss. We offer rituals that address these emotions. These ceremonies also remedy the male-female power imbalance inherent in the traditional Jewish divorce procedure.

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Healing After A Child’s Divorce

Claudia Moutray | Complete Ceremony

A ritual for parents to express themselves upon hearing the news that their child is getting divorced. [more]

Found In: Divorce

A Ritual Acknowledging Separation

By Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin | Complete Ceremony

A mourning ceremony following the traditional get for a woman do with her friends. The ceremony centers around the tearing of a sheet or pillowcase meant to evoke sexual intimacy, the wedding canopy, keri'ah, the rending of clothing in mourning, and the cutting of the get. [more]

Found In: Separation

Tags: havdalah

Separating

By Ruth Berger Goldston | Complete Ceremony

A ceremony using havdalah, the ceremony separating Shabbat from the week, to mark the separation of the couple [more]

Found In: Separation

Tags: havdalah

A Ritual of Release

By Rabbis Paula Marcus, Eli Cohen, and Lori Klein | Complete Ceremony

A separation ritual for a same-sex couple prior to finalizing a get [more]

Found In: Divorce, Separation

Upon the Breakdown of a Relationship

By Helen Freeman | Complete Ceremony

A ceremony for a woman and friends using a bowl of stones. The stones echo stones which are traditionally left on graves as signs of remembrance. [more]

Found In: Divorce, Separation

Renewing the Ritual of Get

By Or N. Rose and Judith Rosenbaum | Article

Revisioning the get ceremony to be more than a legal procedure, taking into account the spiritual and emotional elements [more]

Found In: Divorce

Tags: get

Get: A Document of Release from the Holy Bonds of Marriage

By Myron Kinberg | Complete Ceremony

The author suggests convening a Beit Chesed (a House of Lovingkindness) instead of a traditional Beit Din (Rabbinic Court) to perform the get ceremony. The ceremony can be egalitarian and is accompanied by a prayer of release. [more]