A celebratory book of Jewish girls coming-of-age
Everyone has heard the bar mitzvah
boy’s quintessential line, “Today I am a man.” But this year 40,000 Jewish girls in North
America will celebrate bat mitzvahs with ceremonies that mark
their religious coming-of-age. If you believe that the bat mitzvah got its
start in the U.S.
and has remained a typically American milestone, think again. This book
contains personal stories from six continents, accounts of the joys and
problems related to bat mitzvah in 78 countries. Today I am a Woman is a powerful reminder of the worldwide dispersion of the Jewish
people, their diversity in a multitude of cultures, and the varied
opportunities present for girls and women.
A heartfelt account of the
first, and probably the last, bat mitzvah at the only synagogue in Indonesia; a
moving bat mitzvah memory of World War II Italy; and an American bat mitzvah
shared with girls in a Ukrainian orphanage - these are a few of the rich
testimonies from bat mitzvah girls past and present, their parents and
grandparents, and community and religious leaders.
Illustrated by evocative family
photographs and introduced by the editors’ descriptions of the Jewish
communities in which the bat mitzvah ceremonies took place, the stories reveal
the various ways that Judaism defines this comparatively “new” rite of passage in
a girl's life. This unusual and first-time compilation is an ideal keepsake for
bat mitzvah celebrants, their families, and friends.
Table of
Contents:
Preface\Shulamit Reinharz
Acknowledgments
Introduction\Barbara Vinick
Africa
Asia
Australia
and New Zealand
Caribbean
Europe
Former Soviet Union, Former Yugoslavia,
and Eastern Europe
Latin America
Middle East and North Africa
North America
Glossary
Further Reading