Word: mitzvahs
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...next stop on Oppenheimer’s b’nai mitzvah tour is further off the beaten path—Fayetteville, Arkansas, where Oppenheimer observes Jacob Newman’s bar mitzvah. With prayers led by Jacob’s mother, the bar mitzvah had a New Age feel, and a number of the attendees were not Jewish. In contrast to New York b’nai mitzvah, Oppenheimer says, the Fayateville bar mitzvah “is a natural opportunity for Jews to proclaim that they exist and to perform their existence in a way that the neighbors...
Similarly, for Mendy Greenberg in Anchorage, Alaska, the bar mitzvah is a meaningful event. Mendy’s parents are members of the Lubavitcher Hasidic sect of Judaism, and they believe that part of their mission in life is to reach out to less observant Jews, a task that begins, for Mendy, on the day he becomes a bar mitzvah...
Oppenheimer’s journey concludes at Temple Sinai in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where his grandmother grew up. There, Oppenheimer witnesses the b’nai mitzvah of two adults, Jacob and Rena, who have converted to Judaism. Oppenheimer is puzzled by the survival of Judaism in Lake Charles, “the kind of town where Judaism lives but where Jewish rituals...
Oppenheimer’s visit to Lake Charles illustrates that his journey is a very personal one. Oppenheimer was born Jewish but never had a bar mitzvah ceremony. Through his travels, Oppenheimer comes to realize that he should not be disappointed by mechanical religious services or party-focused teenagers. He decides that b’nai mitzvah everywhere are a way for Jews—whether born or converted to the religion—to proclaim their places in the religious community...
Although writing “Thirteen and a Day” seems to have helped Oppenheimer deconstruct the bar mitzvah ritual, I did not find his conclusions profound, perhaps because the idea of the bat mitzvah as a way to proclaim cultural affiliation seems natural to me, based on my own experience. One hopes that Oppenheimer’s tour of unique b’nai mitzvah services and parties will generate an idea for some readers of what the bar and bat mitzvah mean to Jews in different locations and of different sects. For others, Oppenheimer?...