{"id":169267,"date":"2022-03-17T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T13:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishexponent.com\/?p=169267"},"modified":"2022-03-18T08:55:53","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T12:55:53","slug":"a-century-after-first-bat-mitzvah-jewish-coming-of-age-still-evolves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishexponent.com\/a-century-after-first-bat-mitzvah-jewish-coming-of-age-still-evolves\/","title":{"rendered":"A Century After First Bat Mitzvah, Jewish Coming-of-Age Still Evolves"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Standing
Sharon Musher\u2019s daughter Elena (center) at her bat mitzvah in 2016 | Courtesy of Sharon Musher<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For some Jewish tweens, Judith Kaplan Eisenstein\u2019s reality was their worst nightmare.<\/span><\/p>\n

The evening before, Eisenstein\u2019s father, Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan, told his daughter that she would be having a bat mitzvah ceremony \u2014 chanting Torah and prayers in front of the entire congregation \u2014 giving her few hours to prepare.<\/span><\/p>\n

The tight timing of the ordeal was only one part of the anomalous situation: Eisenstein would also become the first young Jewish woman to have a bat mitzvah, the ceremonial honor until then only afforded to young men. Previously, women only participated in a b\u2019nai mitzvah, a group ceremony for young Jews, regardless of gender.<\/span><\/p>\n

On March 18, 1922, a Saturday morning, Eisenstein left her seat in the front row of the women\u2019s section of the Society of the Advancement of Judaism synagogue in New York to stand on the men\u2019s side, some distance away from the bimah, to read from the Chumash, the book with the printed text from the Torah.<\/span><\/p>\n

One hundred years after Eisenstein became a bat mitzvah in front of her community, her accomplishment is being recognized, both through events honoring the milestone and by the continuous paradigm shift the Jewish institution of b\u2019nai mitzvah is undergoing in some communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the unprecedented nature of Eisenstein\u2019s Jewish coming of age, the event was not particularly controversial in the community.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Dressed
Judith Kaplan Eisenstein at her second bat mitzvah ceremony in 1992 | Courtesy of Sharon Musher<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kaplan was the founder of the Reconstructionist movement, which was defined by its views of Judaism as an ever-evolving culture and religion. He had an interest in the suffrage movement of the time and in first-wave feminism, which advocated for the increased presence of women in public roles.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kaplan saw Eisenstein, his eldest daughter, as
\nhis disciple and mentee, according to Stockton University history professor and great-niece of Eisenstein,
\nSharon Musher.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe had four daughters and he wanted them to participate in this rite of passage,\u201d Musher said.<\/span><\/p>\n

In line with his Reconstructionist sensibilities, Kaplan took the consensus of the SAJ community, who agreed that Eisenstein could have a bat mitzvah in front of the congregation. Only Eisenstein\u2019s grandmothers had qualms with the ceremony, Musher said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Eisenstein\u2019s bat mitzvah had marked differences to the likes of those seen today in Reform, Reconstructionist and some Conservative spaces: She didn\u2019t read from the Torah scroll or wear a tallit or kippah. Eisenstein did not have an aliyah again until five months before<\/span> the bat mitzvah of her daughter Miriam many years later, and Eisenstein had a second bat mitzvah in 1992, four years before her death.<\/span><\/p>\n

In honor of the 100th anniversary of Eisenstein\u2019s bat mitzvah, SAJ – Judaism That Stands for All, will host a Rise Up\/Bat Mitzvah At 100: National Shabbat on March 17 over Zoom and in-person. With Ironbound Films, they launched an Instagram campaign @judithkaplan1922 to illustrate what young Judith Kaplan\u2019s life at 12 would have been like had she had Instagram as a child.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dylan Tanzer, the West Orange, New Jersey-based actor who will play the bat mitzvah girl in the Instagram project, believes Eisenstein was an \u201cinspiration to all Jewish girls now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Only seven months away from her own bat mitzvah at a Reform synagogue, Dylan, 12, will read as much of her Torah portion as she can.\u00a0 <\/span>Learning more about Eisenstein\u2019s story, Dylan was shocked that the first bat mitzvah, something of an inevitability in her Jewish upbringing, was near-unheard of a century ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot express that it was 100 years ago,\u201d she said. \u201cI just thought it was normal; I didn\u2019t even think about it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Dylan
Dylan Tanzer as Judith Kaplan | Courtesy of Ironbound Films<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But Eisenstein didn\u2019t just open the door for young girls. For Jewish women not allowed to celebrate their bat mitzvah when they turned 12, Eisenstein\u2019s legacy gave them a chance to fulfill the mitzvah later in life.<\/span><\/p>\n

This year, Congregation Beth Tikvah, a Conservative synagogue in Marlton, New Jersey, held an adult b\u2019nai mitzvah class to coincide with the 100-year anniversary.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s by design that we\u2019re doing it this year,\u201d Rabbi Nathan Weiner said.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Beth Tikvah was the first Conservative congregation to allow for bat mitzvahs that were identical to bar mitzvahs, according to Weiner.<\/span><\/p>\n

The egalitarian nature of the synagogue is what drew congregant Bonni Rubin-Sugarman to the synagogue more than 30 years ago.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Now 70, Rubin-Sugarman, a student in Beth Tikvah\u2019s adult b\u2019nai mitzvah class, will have the bat mitzvah ceremony she longed to have but didn\u2019t as a tween.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Growing up with a father who was the president of a Conservative synagogue, Rubin-Sugarman was socialized with strict gender roles. She was somewhat resentful that her brothers who played Little League baseball and attended Hebrew school, envious of the one Jewish girl she knew who had a bat mitzvah.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was wonderful \u2014 and not for the party \u2014 for what she was accomplishing,\u201d she said. \u201cI was just in awe of what she accomplished.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After her confirmation in the 10th grade, Rubin-Sugarman became involved in United Synagogue Youth, committing to involvement in Jewish life as an adult.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI said to myself at 16 when I went on USY On Wheels, \u2018I\u2019m going to do this someday; someday, I\u2019m going to be able to have a bat mitzvah,\u2019 and that kind of had a huge effect on me,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rubin-Sugarman approached Weiner last year, requesting a bat mitzvah ceremony that would take place in her 70th year of life. Her son-in-law, who recently converted, and seven other congregants joined her.<\/span><\/p>\n

Always religious, Rubin-Sugarman said her relationship with Judaism has changed as her June 11 bat mitzvah date approaches.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI consider myself a pretty spiritual person,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I couldn\u2019t imagine [the adult b\u2019nai mitzvah class] would enhance it, but I think it has.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While Rubin-Sugarman felt like having a bat mitzvah later in life was a way to fulfill a dream from her past, SAJ Rabbi Lauren Grabelle Herrmann is looking to make fundamental changes to the language and attitude around Jewish coming-of-age that align with the spirit of Eisenstein\u2019s bat mitzvah, which brought an underrepresented gender into a new fold of synagogue life.<\/p>\n

About four or five years ago, Grabelle Herrmann \u2014 who also was the founding rabbi of West Philadelphia\u2019s Kol Tzedek congregation \u2014 changed all language referring to coming-of-age to \u201cb\u2019mitzvah,\u201d a gender-neutral term that is becoming more widely used in many Reform and Reconstructionist spaces. SAJ\u2019s gender-neutral language is also used when calling up individuals for an aliyah, regardless of the individual\u2019s gender.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the past year, five of the congregation\u2019s 260 families have had b\u2019mitzvah for a transgender, gender non-conforming or non-binary child.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome to feel like we\u2019re ready to be inclusive without it being a big deal at all,\u201d Grabelle Herrmann said.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to the language being affirming, it\u2019s also practical in a space where kids and tweens are thinking openly about their gender, she said. Grabelle Herrmann had a child announce a change in pronouns two weeks before their b\u2019mitzvah. The family asked what needed to change in the ceremony. Nothing did, Grabelle Herrmann said.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a changing political and social landscape, more than just a language update is necessary to engage Jewish youth, Grabelle Herrmann argued.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond teaching prayers and parshot to young congregants, she\u2019s also tasked with engaging tweens who aren\u2019t interested in becoming b\u2019mitzvah or engaging further with the Jewish community.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had many conversations with kids who are like, \u2018I\u2019m not into this; I\u2019m not feeling this,\u2019 Grabelle Herrmann said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m able to talk about: What are the reasons people do this? Why is this important to your parents? What can you get out of it? Those conversations keep the kids engaged, even if they don\u2019t love their b\u2019mitzvah. They know that they can trust to talk to a Jewish adult and spiritual figure.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The task is in line with what Musher believes is the true purpose of a b\u2019mitzvah.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"In
The four daughters of Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan as young girls | Courtesy of Sharon Musher<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When she reflects on the legacy of her great aunt, Musher thinks beyond just the inaugural bat mitzvah. Eisenstein became a prominent and prolific Jewish composer, musicologist and educator. Though her bat mitzvah was the genesis of her engagement with the larger Jewish community, the impact of her scholarship and commitment to Jewish life was profound after her coming-of-age.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important that [b\u2019nai mitzvahs] mark, not the end of young people\u2019s Jewish education,\u201d Musher said, \u201cbut the beginning of an adult commitment to Jewish peoplehood.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For some Jewish tweens, Judith Kaplan Eisenstein\u2019s reality was their worst nightmare. The evening before, Eisenstein\u2019s father, Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan, told his daughter that she would be having a bat mitzvah ceremony \u2014 chanting Torah and prayers in front of the entire congregation \u2014 giving her few hours to prepare. The tight timing of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13397,"featured_media":169269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78,7,8],"tags":[13866,10620,13867,13864,13865,13863],"section":[],"coauthors":[13222],"yoast_head":"\nA Century After First Bat Mitzvah, Jewish Coming-of-Age Still Evolves - Jewish Exponent<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jewishexponent.com\/a-century-after-first-bat-mitzvah-jewish-coming-of-age-still-evolves\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Century After First Bat Mitzvah, Jewish Coming-of-Age Still Evolves - Jewish Exponent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For some Jewish tweens, Judith Kaplan Eisenstein\u2019s reality was their worst nightmare. 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The evening before, Eisenstein\u2019s father, Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan, told his daughter that she would be having a bat mitzvah ceremony \u2014 chanting Torah and prayers in front of the entire congregation \u2014 giving her few hours to prepare. 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