keeping up with the steins

March 7, 2014
By bethmordecai
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DAY 615: Reflecting On the Purpose of Becoming a Bar or Bat Mitzvah

Dear Hevreh, If you take a look around the internet or ask a number of Jewish leaders, you might get the feeling that a bar or bat mitzvah (plural = b'nei mitzvah) is not such a good thing. Too much time focused on the party, too little emphasis on the meaning of "coming of age," too much memorization of random words and phrases in Hebrew of uninspiring Torah and Haftarah portions. If you listen to enough of the noise about b'nei mitzvah you might get the impression that they signal the decline of Jewish life.    I admit that I often agreed with these sentiments, perhaps because when I became a bar mitzvah I wanted to do and lead much more of the ritual service than my peers, including reading all of [...]

Category : Bar and Bat Mitzvah Rabbi Rabbi's Journal Shabbat
Tag : b'nei mitzvah bar mitzvah bat mitzvah keeping up with the steins leviticus rabbi rabbi david wolpe rabbi rick jacobs rabbi's journal vayikra