Jewish Coming of Age
Today’s Lavish Feasts Derive from Meals with Sacred Status
Although the bar/bat mitzvah meal is traditionally a seudat mitzvah--a meal with sacred status--extravagance has been rife for hundreds of years.
History of Bat Mitzvah
The bat mitzvah ceremony is of relatively recent vintage, with the first American observance in 1922.
The Birth of the Good Inclination
In rabbinic texts, the distinction between childhood and young adulthood is the birth of the yetzer hatov, the good inclination.
In This Place and Time–New Traditional Bat Mitzvah
The women's prayer service is becoming the choice venue for a bat mitzvah in Orthodox synagogues that value egalitarianism and learning.
Orthodox Judaism Grapples with Bat Mitzvah
As girls have become the educational equals of boys in Orthodox Judaism, rabbis need to explore halakhah to create a normative bat mitzvah ceremony.
History of Bar Mitzvah
Originally bar mitzvah meant simply "coming of age." The ceremony developed much later.
Adopted Children, Conversion, and the Bar/Bat Mitzvah
For converted children, bar/bat mitzvah is a time for affirming their connections with Judaism.
How to Choose a Mitzvah Project for a Bar/Bat Mitzvah
Suggestions for adding social action to this rite of passage.
Putting the ‘Mitzvah’ Back into Bar and Bat Mitzvah
Mitzvah projects are often part of the bar/bat mitzvah observance .
How the Bar/Bat Mitzvah Child Participates in the Service
The defining moment of the ceremony is the child's first aliyah, but children may also play additional roles in the service.