Many Jewish women, especially those who were raised when Jewish education was dominated by males, feel limited or inadequate when it comes to participating in Jewish rituals or services. To make up for the loss, many are becoming adult b’nai mitzvah.
While adult b’nai mitzvah occur throughout the year, some synagogues hold their adult b’nai mitzvah ceremonies in conjunction with Shavuot, which celebrates the receiving of the Torah and is on May 29 this year.
Increasingly over the past 25 years, synagogues have been offering adult b’nai mitzvah classes. Many include a one- or two-year course of study, which focuses on learning to read Hebrew and understanding liturgy. Classes are usually taught by the rabbi and cantor.
While b’nai mitzvah classes across the country are open to both men and women, classes are primarily dominated by females.
The first known bat mitzvah ceremony in North America was in 1922, but until the 1960s and ‘70s, many Jewish girls in the United States were either dissuaded or not permitted to have a bat mitzvah ceremony.
Hadassah gave the adult bat mitzvah movement a huge boost: At its annual conventions in the late 1990s, Hadassah held group adult bat mitzvah ceremonies, including one with as many as 180 women. Then in 2001, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations created a guide on adult b’nai mitzvah programs. Some 700 of the 900 Reform synagogues requested it, prompting the Women’s League for Conservative Judaism to develop its own guide.
The bar or bat mitzvah ceremony isn’t mandatory; by Jewish law, a boy reaches adulthood when he turns 13 and a girl at 12 — no ceremony required. But it is that very lack of necessity that makes an adult b’nai mitzvah even more remarkable as a concrete, hard-won and public affirmation of Jewish identity and commitment. — l.a. jewish journal and jewishfamily.com and understanding liturgy. Classes are usually taught by the rabbi and cantor.
While b’nai mitzvah classes across the country are open to both men and women, classes are primarily dominated by females.
The first known bat mitzvah ceremony in North America was in 1922, but until the 1960s and ‘70s, many Jewish girls in the United States were either dissuaded or not permitted to have a bat mitzvah ceremony.
Hadassah gave the adult bat mitzvah movement a huge boost: At its annual conventions in the late 1990s, Hadassah held group adult bat mitzvah ceremonies, including one with as many as 180 women. Then in 2001, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations created a guide on adult b’nai mitzvah programs. Some 700 of the 900 Reform synagogues requested it, prompting the Women’s League for Conservative Judaism to develop its own guide.
The bar or bat mitzvah ceremony isn’t mandatory; by Jewish law, a boy reaches adulthood when he turns 13 and a girl at 12 — no ceremony required. But it is that very lack of necessity that makes an adult b’nai mitzvah even more remarkable as a concrete, hard-won and public affirmation of Jewish identity and commitment. n — l.a. jewish journal and jewishfamily.com