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bar mitzvah

a generic image of a girl reading from the Torah
Posted inLocal Voice

How my community is trying to fix a broken b’mitzvah system

Zvika Krieger by Zvika Krieger June 22, 2023June 23, 2023

Having grown up Orthodox, I only learned later in life that most young American Jews who have a b’mitzvah do so as the culmination of a multiyear educational program specifically […]

Henry Lien (right) and fellow tutor Cesar Morales (left) react to students debating about what move to make, at San Pedro Elementary School, July 6, 2022. (Photo/Jeffrey Huang)
Posted inNews

Three years later, bar mitzvah boy’s gambit is still helping kids learn chess in San Rafael

Gabe Fisher by Gabe Fisher September 8, 2022September 8, 2022
(Photo/Flickr-María Helena Carey CC BY-ND 2.0)
Posted inThe Matzo Chronicles

Long Island history gone awry: the story of my not-mitzvah

Karen Galatz by Karen Galatz August 10, 2022August 9, 2022
Security guards confront members of the Women of the Wall movement during Rosh Hodesh prayers at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Nov. 5, 2021. (Photo/JTA-Olivier Fitoussi-Flash90)
Posted inNews

Harassment at a Western Wall bar mitzvah renews the fight over prayer spaces in Israel

by Andrew Lapin and JTA July 8, 2022July 8, 2022
Sonia Apfelblum, a Holocaust survivor, became a bat mitzvah at Peninsula Temple Beth El in San Mateo on May 12, 2022. (Photo/Miri Ekshtein)
Posted inBay Area

Two Holocaust survivors celebrate long-delayed b’nai mitzvah in San Mateo

by Dan Pine June 21, 2022June 23, 2022
Cooper Raiff as a bar/bat mitzvah "motivational dancer" in “Cha Cha Real Smooth.” (Photo/JTA-Courtesy of Apple)
Posted inCulture

Is ‘Cha Cha Real Smooth’ the first good bar/bat mitzvah movie?

by Andrew Lapin and JTA June 17, 2022June 17, 2022
A 1949 announcement in this paper about Bat (or Bas) mitzvah classes
Posted inFrom the Archives

San Francisco’s first bat mitzvah in 1947 paved the way for others

Maya Mirsky
(Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff) by Maya Mirsky March 29, 2022
Tsvi Reiter, Yvonne Reiter and Hei Le participate in Yvonne’s bat mitzvah ceremony, which was performed over Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo/The Conversation-Lindsey Wasson-Getty Images News via Getty Images)
Posted inOpinion

The first bat mitzvah was 100 years ago, and has been opening doors for Jewish women ever since

Lisa Fishbayn Joffelogo of The Conversation by Lisa Fishbayn Joffe and The Conversation March 15, 2022March 15, 2022
The Goldenblatt family gathers with Rabbi Jen, played by trans actor Hari Nef, on the finale of HBO's "Sex and the City" reboot. (Screenshot)
Posted inTV

In HBO’s ‘And Just Like That’ finale, a ‘they’ mitzvah challenges Jewish traditions

Philissa Cramer by Philissa Cramer and JTA February 3, 2022
Rabbi Shira Stutman discusses circumcision during a class for converts to Judaism at the Sixth and I Synagogue in Washington, DC on December 5, 2013.. (Photo/JTA-Linda Davidson-The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Posted inReligion

These Jews want to normalize not circumcising — and they want synagogues to help

by Ben Harris and JTA October 8, 2021December 7, 2021

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