Understanding the power of rituals and ceremonies

I’d like to take a closer look at the power of rituals and ceremonies. While the topic is well-known and well-studied, rituals and ceremonies permeate our lives, often in ways we don’t even realize, as we take them for granted. Rituals and ceremonies are everywhere – starting from those on national level to personal space. A prayer is a ritual. In Judaism, of course, there is a plethora of rituals and ancient traditions. But it goes much deeper than religion.

While many of us would like society to be egalitarian, the rituals we go through every day – some conscious, some taken for granted – establish an implicit hierarchy. Who gives way to who on the sidewalk; who sits where in a temple; who is encouraged to have a deep voice we associate with authority and who is encouraged to sound sweet rather than powerful; who gets to make the first move in dating; who wears lipstick, and even who is pressured to smile and who has a serious face. Ad infinitum.

Is it possible not to have any hierarchy at all? I don’t believe it is. Rituals and ceremonies are drilled into us since we’re little. Think about all the hazing, secret society rituals, and even corporate and military chants and songs. Can we really function without rituals and ceremonies? We can’t, because they form the fabric of society and if we were to do away with them, society as we know it would cease to exist and devolve into chaos. Our identities would undergo a fundamental shift. In some cases, people would lose any sense of identity without a clear reference point.

Hence, it’s a part of genocide to target a nation’s heritage because it erases the identity upon which people of that nation build their sense of self. To an extent, anyway, not fully, of course. We are still individuals not fully reliant on symbols. Still, symbols are vital. That’s why forcefully erasing enemy’s identity, part of which involves imposing new rituals and ceremonies converting the enemy to the new way of thinking, and re-forming the enemy in the victor’s image is so much more efficient, and one could say, cunning, than just sending them into oblivion. It’s no accent that monuments and cultural institutions of the defeated are either eradicated or converted by the victors to reflect a new reality. That way, the enemy is unlikely to pose a threat ever again and even becomes an asset over time. Yes, it’s cruel, but certainly not unusual, and such tactics prove to be the most effective in an existential battle.

In time, even the enemy might notice the positive aspects of such a reformation.

Leaving the enemy not fully emasculated is going to backfire, eventually. History shows this. And undermining the agency of the enemy is the first step, as it sends shockwaves through the psyche of the enemy. With enough shockwaves, the enemy’s morale is going to collapse and their psyche is going to break, leaving it open to being reformed in the victor’s image.

Hamas was playing with fire with the humiliating hostage ceremonies – and now Hamas is paying the price. A foolish gamble with tragic consequences for hutzpah-driven Hamas. Hubris and hutzpah with an admixture of fanaticism is the worst mix of all. Sadly, there’s no negotiation with terrorists who are going to use any excuse to humiliate and abuse while screaming to the world that they are the victims, knowing full well that many fools are going to believe them. Indeed, they are counting on these fools to be their willing puppets abroad.