ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the themes of boundaries and selves through a detailed study of Jewish ritual life, and in particular the ultraorthodox communities that emphasize boundary-maintaining. It looks more closely into ways in which Orthodox women and men learn to dress, speak, and generally behave so as to maintain the distinctiveness of their religious community. People carrying out a religious ritual try to conform to certain rules to get the ritual right. The long transition stage in Japanese death rituals supports the idea of a gradual melding of the individual into the collectivity and thus also supports the general cultural importance of the collectivity. The more important the person, the more ritual work needs to be done, so only some bones are subjected to secondary burial. Death rituals also frequently feature images of journeys to new worlds, enactments of rebirth, or the disinterment and reburial of bones.
