Originally posted in January 2021. 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 been practiced in Orthodox Judaism since the mid-19th century, they were not common until the 1920s – well after my father’s family had slipped away from their faith.
My Daughter, the Bat Mitzvah
So lovely. I really love reading about family history. Past and Present.