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.