The J for girls and their families that will enhance the Bat Mitzvah experience. Resources can be used to spark ideas for Divrei Torah and Bat Mitzvah speeches, to add meaning and relevance to the process of preparation, or even to inform the theme of the party.
After 13 years of relating to the Jewish communitewish Women’s Archive’s Bat Mitzvah Program will introduce girls to new role models, compelling stories, and daring ideas of who a Jewish woman can be. The Archive will disseminate specially designed resources for the classroom, for private Bat Mitzvah lessons, andy largely through their families, B’not Mitzvah (plural for Bat Mitzvah) are encouraged to enter into a different, more personal, relationship with Judaism. Most professionals working with B’not Mitzvah try to facilitate this new relationship by exposing girls to the ancient texts of our tradition. Some girls find these texts powerful and resonant, but for many others they lack the relevance and immediacy that will lead to a deep, lasting relationship with their Jewish heritage and a personal, unique connection to contemporary Jewish life. Similarly, resources on the meaning of the Bat Mitzvah—whether found online or in a synagogue library—tend to focus on its ritual significance, and on those ritual responsibilities that young women are expected to assume once they become B’not Mitzvah. Girls are rarely introduced to the rich cultural history of Jewish women they inherit and become part of as they enter Jewish adulthood.
This project is designed to bridge the sometimes alienating gap between biblical times and our own day, and between religious responsibility and pride in a Jewish cultural identity, helping to make the Bat Mitzvah experience the beginning, rather than the end, of a girl’s commitment to Jewish community, rituals, and values. Offering B’not Mitzvah a broader range of role models as they begin to construct their identities as Jewish adults will encourage girls to make connections between Jewish tradition and the challenges they will face in their own lives.
A few examples: The first-person narratives of Bella Abzug and Belle Fligelman, describing their youthful experiences speaking on street-corners on behalf of Zionism and suffrage, respectively, will inspire budding activists. Discovering the story of Olympian Bobbie Rosenfeld will inspire athletes, while the story of the Nobel-Prize-winning chemist Gertrude Elion will inspire young scientists and burgeoning doctors. The stories of modern-day Miriams and Deborahs will complement Torah portions, linking the ancient stories to people living in modern America. The work of visual artists, dancers, and musicians will stimulate the exploration of Judaism through a creative lens.