(Jewish Group) The first bat mitzvah was 100 years ago, and has been opening doors for Jewish women

[Behind the Aegis]

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

March 18, 2022, marks the 100th anniversary of the first bat mitzvah ceremony in the United States.

Judith Kaplan, daughter of the influential rabbi Mordechai Kaplan, became the first woman to publicly celebrate the traditional Jewish coming-of-age ceremony. Becoming a bat mitzvah, or “daughter of the commandments,” signifies that a young woman has attained legal adulthood under Jewish law.

A bat mitzvah is based on the centuries-old ritual of bar mitzvah, or “son of the commandments,” the ceremony for 13-year-old boys. Today, it typically involves months or years of study, chanting Torah in front of the congregation and giving a reflection on the week’s reading.

Since that day in 1922, coming-of-age ceremonies for Jewish girls have gradually become more popular, especially in more liberal branches of Judaism. As someone who studies how legal and social changes intersect to advance the rights of women in religious communities, I see bat mitzvah as having a transformative impact on the rights of women in Jewish life, one that continues to reverberate in important ways today.

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[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. As the father of two daughters, this article was very interesting to me

I am a member of a reformed congregation and was happy to participate the the ceremonies for both of my daughters

This passage on adult bat mitzvahs was meaningful to me. I have attended two adult bat mitzvahs at my temple

As the ritual of bat mitzvah became more widely accepted, adult women who had been denied opportunities to study for it as children have sought out bat mitzvah as well. They may choose adult bat mitzvah because they seek to become more involved in ritual leadership in their synagogue community, or to enhance their skills so that they can guide their children when it becomes time for them to begin training for their own bar or bat mitzvah.

Becoming an adult bat mitzvah may also provide a public forum to mark important transformations in one’s Jewish identity. Project Kesher, an American nongovernmental organization that fosters Jewish women’s leadership in the former Soviet Union, supports programs for adult bat mitzvah. These initiatives allow women who were forbidden to receive a Jewish education by antisemitic state policies to reclaim their identities.

Both ceremonies were very moving