When’s the right time for a rite of passage?

October 15, 2009 - 12:32 PM by Gilah

It’s generally accepted that the Israeli perspective on the bar/bat mitzvah ceremony is different from its counterpart in the US.
I remember when Susie and three of her closest friends decided to celebrate their bat mitzvahs together – they were all around 40-years-old at the time.
They had been studying Torah as a group in Jerusalem for a year and a half. It all started when Boston-born Susie, who had already been in Israel for more than 20 years, started to feel that while her Jewish identity was her primary identity, which is why she had moved here, it was time for her to confront her “awe of the Torah.”
Sally, Ruti and Janet had also been in Israel for a couple of decades and for various reasons, none of the four had had a bat mitzvah back in the States. In fact, the first bat mitzvah was held by American rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan, a major figure in Jewish thought and the founder of the Reconstructionist movement, for his daughter Judith in 1922.
So the culmination of 18 months of study and learning to read from the holy book was a ceremony at Jerusalem’s Kol Haneshama .
Now the idea didn’t resonate with everybody, but at that June ceremony 12 years ago no one could fail to be moved by the four women’s obvious quiet joy and pride in their achievements.
The bat mitzvahs of those forty-somethings inevitably came to mind when I received an e-mail recently, telling me about another group of delayed bar/bat mitzvah celebrants, en route to Israel.
Some of the participants at the upcoming celebration will be using walkers. Oxygen and wheelchairs will be available for emergencies. Five nurses will be traveling with the group. The average age of the participants in this particular version of the Jewish coming-of-age ceremony? Eighty-five.

In addition to studying with a rabbi, the residents have been participating in a walking group and working out in a gym.
The oldest participant is 97. She plans to join the others on a climb to the ancient cliff-top fortress of Masada. Another is a Holocaust survivor who lived in Palestine before immigrating to the US. It will be her first trip back since1948.
The Cedar Village retirement community in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason, Ohio, is bringing seven residents to Jerusalem, along with relatives and staff, for a 10-day trip, the main event of which will be the bar/bat mitzvah ceremony, to take place at 9:15 on October 15 at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
While other elderly men and women have opted to have bar/bat mitzvahs, this appears to be the first time that the participants are choosing to do so in Israel. It seems a not-uncommon occurrence in Cleveland to have a bat mitzvah late in life, and other US seniors, up to the age of 100, seem to have felt similarly inclined.
Susie says that the experience of studying and learning to read Torah rivals raising children as the two most meaningful passages in her life. We wish the senior celebrants an equally, profound adventure.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , • Category: A New Reality, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Religion, Travel, health 

Comments

2 Comments on When’s the right time for a rite of passage?

  1. mara on Thu, Oct 15th 2009 4:15 PM

    2. kol hakavod to these wonderful women (and men!)

  2. When’s the right time for a rite of passage? | JewPI on Mon, Oct 26th 2009 6:43 PM

    3. [...] from its counterpart in the US. I remember when Susie and three of her closest friends decided to Read More » Share and Enjoy:Tags: bar bat mitzvah, counterpart, right time, rite of passage, Susie Categories: [...]

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