Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of b’nai mitzvah (also called bat mitzvahs for girls and bar mitzvahs for boys), Jewish coming-of-age ceremonies typically done at age 13.
B’nai Mitzvah
The Latest
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Opinion When Will Y.U. Learn?
When will Yeshiva University ever learn? When will modern American Orthodoxy’s flagship institution learn to own up to its mistakes, genuinely reform its procedures, live out its values and, above all, provide a safe and honest environment for its students? The latest revelation, that Y.U. hired a new faculty member who had been convicted of…
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Life Bar and Bat Mitzvahs Critical to Future of Jewish Community
When my oldest daughter had her bat mitzvah, one of my proudest moments did not occur during the ceremony, though she certainly invested time and hard work in preparing. It came early Sunday morning when we were deciding what to do with the leftover food from our huge Shabbat Kiddush. My daughter suggested that we…
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News Yeshiva U. Hires Lecturer With Criminal Record of Sexual Misconduct With Boys
UPDATED: October 10 Yeshiva University, still reeling from allegations that for decades its leaders dealt improperly with the specter of sexual abuse, has hired a new faculty member convicted of inappropriate sexual behavior with boys, the Forward has learned. Akiva Roth, who started this new school year as a Hebrew teacher at Yeshiva College, pleaded…
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Life Back to Square One With B’nei Mitzvah
As I listened to friends and family begrudgingly make decisions about Hebrew school for their kids this year, I started a conversation on my personal blog about alternatives to the typical after-school programs. As I mentioned, I was not asking on behalf of my own family. My kids go to a non-Orthodox day school, attend…
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Opinion Forgive Us for Clicking on Sam Horowitz’s Bar Mitzvah Drama
Ashamnu, bagadnu, gazalnu, dibarnu dofi. The words of the Vidui are familiar to most Jews as being part of the Yom Kippur collective confessional. When we recite the Vidui, we all stand — as congregants, as people, as Jews — and confess to sins. These sins to which we confess are ones that we ourselves…
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Fast Forward Rabbi Apologizes to Bar Mitzvah Boy Sam Horowitz for Slam
Rabbi David Wolpe has retracted elements of his previous screed against Sam Horowitz’s lavish bar mitzvah—but has stood by its substance. In a piece published in the Washington Post, Wolpe copped to penning his previous piece in a “white heat,” the type of anger that might cause a well-respected rabbi to “appear to insult a…
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Fast Forward Struck-by-Lightning Jewish Camper Marks Bar Mitzvah in Hospital
(JTA) — On Saturday, two weeks after Ethan Kadish’s 13th birthday, the members of his family will gather around a Torah scroll in the chapel of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for a small ceremony marking his entrance into adulthood. This was not the bar mitzvah that Scott and Alexia Kadish envisioned seven weeks ago when Ethan…
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Life Bar Mitzvah Pornography
I actually must thank Sam-the-Bar-Mitzvah-video dancer and his family for their voyeuristic and strategically-posted video of the burlesque dance routine that’s been making blogosphere news. They have certainly given us Rabbis fodder for our high holiday sermons. But while many of us are busily typing up diatribes against the excess, the lavishness, the expense and…
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