Word: mitzvah
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...Joshua Moses Javits, 13, it was an auspicious entrance into Jewish manhood. He was in Israel for his bar mitzvah, and his proud papa, New York Senator Jacob Javits, 58, made sure that it was a memorable event. First young Joshua was whisked to a Negev Desert kibbutz to meet Premier David Ben-Gurion, who administered an impromptu Biblical quiz. Next it was a session with Israeli President Itzhak Ben-Zvi, who nodded approvingly as Joshua recited from the Torah. On the big day, in Jerusalem's cavernous Yeshurun synagogue, Joshua marked his confirmation by intoning in near flawless...
...throws a bar mitzvah for a partner's son and intones throatily. "To a boy. fare well. To a man, hello!" The boy's father, thanks to Harry, is about to say hello to a prison warden when Harry's Mama breaks misty-eyed into a song called Eat a Little Something (suitable subtitle: :I'll Cry To day), chiding her son for neglecting his character. It falls to Harry's old boss to give him a second chance and a hearteningly fresh moral viewpoint. In one sentence: it is better to be rich...
...Jewish community in the historic German city of Worms, a commonplace ceremony this Sabbath takes on special significance. A 13-year-old boy, Ilan Walzer, will be ushered into manhood at his bar mitzvah, and though the rite elsewhere is primarily an occasion for rejoicing by family and friends, to Worms it means that the city will now have ten adult Jewish males, the number set by Talmudic law as the minimum for a Jewish congregation. The Jews of Worms already had a synagogue; last month Vice Chancellor Ludwig Erhard and other West German dignitaries attended the dedication...
...campaign against Jewish "nationalism" was only dormant. Throughout the thaw, a steady trickle of anti-Semitic propaganda reminded Russian Jews that official policy had only moderated, not changed. Such traditional Jewish practices as circumcision, bar mitzvah, and the baking of unleavened bread drew sneering allusions in the Soviet press to "fanatics of the Talmud," who practice "cruelty rituals." In August Kiev's humorous monthly Perets (Pepper) lumped Jews, Nazis and Konrad Adenauer together in a grotesque front-page cartoon that placed the swastika inside the Star of David. Then came a harsher reminder. To jail last month, for sentences...
...most important factor, Snyder suggests, is not how much Jews drink but how. From the eighth day of his life, when he is circumcised, the Orthodox Jewish boy is surrounded by religious ceremonies (Redemption of the Firstborn, Bar Mitzvah) that involve the drinking of wine. In addition to holy days, each Sabbath brings three Orthodox rituals involving wine. Excess is avoided because "drinking thus occurs in the presence of the most powerful sanctions in Orthodox Jewish life." If so, does drunkenness increase among Jews as they leave the Orthodox faith? Snyder's statistics indicate that there is a slight...