New Rituals, Old Societies: Invented Rituals in Contemporary Israel Nissan Rubin Rituals provide public solutions to some types of life crises. There are crises which beset individuals in modern and post-modern society which are not easily addressed by traditional rituals. However, rites have not disappeared in contemporary society, but have merely changed their guise. Focusing on the secular society of contemporary Israel, this collection examines rituals which were invented by communities and individuals in order to celebrate important turning points. In contemporary Israel a process of innovation of new rituals was introduced, either by the adoption of ritual elements from outside sources or by the transformation of existing Jewish symbols through the infusion of new contents originating in secular ideology. The term "personal definitional rites" coined here was introduced as a tool to interpret rites carried out by individuals undergoing a change in identity. Nissan Rubin, Ph.D. (1977) is Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Anthropology at Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel. He was formerly Head of Department and Head of Graduate Program in Community and Society Studies. Now he is Head of the Sociology and Anthropology Department at Ashkelon Academic College, Ashkelon, Israel. He has published numerous papers on rites, rites of passage, and ceremonies in contemporary Israeli society and in Late Antiquity Judaism.