My Daughter, the Bat Mitzvah

This coming Saturday, January 23, I will place my hands on my daughter’s head, and say five words in Hebrew: “Baruch she'p'tarani me'onsho shel zeh.” 

Heloise is turning 12, and will become the first family member in over a century to mark such a birthday in a synagogue.  She may well be the first girl ever to do so; though “bat mitzvahs” for girls have…