Life Cycles

Honoring Life’s Big Moments with SIJCC

Guidance | Meaning | Connection

Life cycle events mark personal and communal transitions—from welcoming new life to honoring loved ones who have passed.

These rituals, both traditional and contemporary, offer moments to pause, reflect, and connect with our ancestors, ourselves, and our community.

Why SIJCC?

At SIJCC, we are more than a community center—we are here for your family in moments of celebration and challenge.

We combine Jewish ancestral wisdom with modern insight to create rituals that resonate with you and your loved ones.

Personalized Rituals for Every Milestone

Two green leaves with black outlines.

Baby Welcoming

(Brit Malah, Baby Namings, Brit Shalom)

Celebrate the arrival of new life with ceremonies tailored to your family's values and traditions.

A black and white scarf with blue stripes and fringed ends.

Honor your child’s - or your grown up’s! - Jewish identity with a ritual reflecting who they are and what matters to them in this big world.

A cartoon depiction of a blue candy with a yellow star, labeled with the letter 'D', and with yellow ends.

Mezuzah Hanging

Celebrate the arrival of new life with ceremonies tailored to your family's values and traditions.

Blue abstract shape on white background with black outline

Name Changes

Mark personal transformations with rituals that honor your journey.

Simple hand-drawn illustration of a rustic floral arch or doorway with pink and yellow flowers and green leaves.

Weddings

Co-create joyous, personalized ceremonies that celebrate your partnership and future.

Two cartoon-style waves in blue with black outlines on a white background.

Divorce Rituals

Navigate endings with sensitivity and care, closure and healing.

A stylized yellow Star of David with a black outline.

Funerals, Memorials, Shivas

Honor the lives of loved ones and find comfort within community.

A cartoon image of a tree with a brown trunk and green leaves.

Receive spiritual support and meaningful rituals at the end of your or a loved one’s life.

End-of-Life Transitions

We welcome all Jews and Jewish families, including people and families who are multi-cultural, multi-racial, and gender expansive.

Rabbi Kerry Chaplin

Guiding with Compassion and Wisdom

As a ritualist, teacher, and spiritual counselor, Rabbi Kerry Chaplin (yes, that is her real name) practices and preaches an embodied, living spirituality through authentic relationship with one’s own mind, body, and spirit. He believes that sharing this authenticity with others and with the Divine, however you understand the Divine today, deepens connections that help us live better.

Before becoming a rabbi, Rabbi Kerry was a community organizer, living all things justice. In every community where she has served as a rabbi, from Hillel at UCLA and Vassar College, to Lab/Shul, to Beit T’Shuvah, Rabbi Kerry has been committed to helping those at the margins experience connection with themselves, others, and Something Bigger.

She is grateful for her teachers at the Ziegler School, Washington University in St. Louis, her yoga teachers, and so many others known and unknown. She lives and plays with her kiddo Frankie, wife Julia, and kitty Smudgy.

Person with short dark hair and a floral patterned shirt standing in front of green leafy foliage.

Life Cycle support is available for SIJCC community members and people who are not yet members.  The costs of these services are based on a sliding scale suggested donation. Your gifts to SIJCC help us continue offering personalized support and meaningful rituals to all who seek them.

For non-urgent matters, such as B mitzvahs or weddings, please email Rabbi Kerry at rabbikerry@sijcc.net.

For emergency matters such as end-of-life services or funerals within 48 hours, please contact our Executive Director Heather McPherson at heather@sijcc.net.