I loved this piece, Judith, and the conversations it sparked.
Like so many changes, bat mitzvah was largely fought for by one girl, one family, one synagogue, one community at a time (as the earlier comment reminds us). Once congregations allowed girls to become bat mitzvah, there was still the question of what it would look like, and in many cases -- including Kagan's -- the bat mitzvah ceremonies of girls did not mirror the bar mitzvah ceremonies of boys. As a result, many different trailblazing young women over the decades had the opportunity to bring change to their communities either by demanding a bat mitzvah or demanding the bat mitzvah they felt they were due.
Last year JWA put together a series of Go & Learn lesson plans relating to another young woman's bat mitzvah campaign. In a plucky yet polite letter to the ritual committee of her Conservative synagogue in 1974, Sally Gottesman lobbied for a bat mitzvah "equal to a boyÌ¢âÂã¢s my age" that included being called to the Torah on a Saturday morning. Her efforts succeeded, and while hers was not the first bat mitzvah held in her congregation, it certainly was a "bat mitzvah first." The organization Gottesman later co-founded, Moving Traditions, collects these stories of bat mitzvah innovation. They too recognize that these stories speak to larger questions about gender and the evolution of contemporary Jewish practice -- and often come from strong women who have since continued to take risks and make change.
I loved this piece, Judith, and the conversations it sparked.
Like so many changes, bat mitzvah was largely fought for by one girl, one family, one synagogue, one community at a time (as the earlier comment reminds us). Once congregations allowed girls to become bat mitzvah, there was still the question of what it would look like, and in many cases -- including Kagan's -- the bat mitzvah ceremonies of girls did not mirror the bar mitzvah ceremonies of boys. As a result, many different trailblazing young women over the decades had the opportunity to bring change to their communities either by demanding a bat mitzvah or demanding the bat mitzvah they felt they were due.
Last year JWA put together a series of Go & Learn lesson plans relating to another young woman's bat mitzvah campaign. In a plucky yet polite letter to the ritual committee of her Conservative synagogue in 1974, Sally Gottesman lobbied for a bat mitzvah "equal to a boyÌ¢âÂã¢s my age" that included being called to the Torah on a Saturday morning. Her efforts succeeded, and while hers was not the first bat mitzvah held in her congregation, it certainly was a "bat mitzvah first." The organization Gottesman later co-founded, Moving Traditions, collects these stories of bat mitzvah innovation. They too recognize that these stories speak to larger questions about gender and the evolution of contemporary Jewish practice -- and often come from strong women who have since continued to take risks and make change.