There is contention among women over the new focus on menopause and its ritual celebration. Some caution that this focus may return us to an identification of women primarily or exclusively with their biological functioning. Others see the focus on menopause as a reflection of the fact that the women’s movement and its leaders have come of (middle) age, and of their determination to explore and celebrate every aspect of women’s lives. This means reclaiming and honoring biology and embodiment as important aspects of our experience, though not the whole of it. It also means acknowledging the connections among body, mind, and spirit, and naming what we gain with midlife, as well as what we lose.
Debra Orenstein
Lifecycles: Jewish Women on Life
Passages and Personal Milestones
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A Special Seder: A Telling About Menopause | Complete Ceremony
By Shoshana Silberman
Part of the script of a new ritual, based on the Passover Seder created by the author to celebrate and mark her passage into menopause
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Menopause Celebration | Complete Ceremony
This ritual is to be performed by a group of women, some or all of whom have gone through menopause. It is to be held, in part, at a mikveh or a natural body of water.
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Fulfillment in Midlife | Complete Ceremony
By Phyllis Ocean Berman
An account of a women's ceremony based upon the Passover seder, to acknowledge the passage into menopause.
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As My Daughter Bleeds, So Do I | Poem
By Valerie Root Wolpe
A poem about a daughter's onset of menses at the same time as her mother, the poet, begins menopause
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