ront
•
A Female Calling
More women are becoming bat mitzvah in adulthood.
Staff Writer
A
lthough it's been 14 years
since she became a bat
mitzvah, Faye Ullmann
remembers every minute of
program of inten-
sive study, which
culminates in a
group aliyah on the
bimah.
Regardless of
location, each class
usually becomes
cohesive and close,
Pearlman says.
While the partic-
ipants are mostly
women, Rabbi
Harold Loss says
some men who
never had a bar
Photo by Krista Husa
LYNNE MEREDITH COHN
it.
/-
Forty-four years old and a member
of Congregation Shaarey Zedek's first
adult bat mitzvah class, Ullmann says
it was one of the "most outstanding"
experiences of her life.
"I had always felt that it was an
opportunity which I had missed out
on — I watched my brothers study
and learn and I learned their portions
along with them, but it wasn't avail-
able to me. I find it thrilling to be able
to participate."
She is not alone. Ullmann, who is
president of the Michigan Branch of
the Women's League for Conservative
Judaism, says many women in the
Conservative movement are thinking
about becoming bat mitzvah and
many more are doing it.
The same is true in the Reform
movement. Fran Pearlman, director of
education at Temple Israel, says the
current class of 34 is the temple's
largest to date.
Within the Orthodox movement,
celebrating a bat mitzvah is a personal
experience for a 12-year-old girl, based
on the desires of the family. The
emphasis, however, is on studying and
preparing a d'var Torah. Adult women
do not, typically, celebrate bat mitzvah
in Orthodox circles.
The concept of calling girls to read
from the Torah as a passage to Jewish
adulthood began in the Reconstruc-
tionist movement in 1922, when
Judith Kaplan, daughter of the move-
ment's founder, Rabbi Mordechai
Kaplan, became bat mitzvah. The
Reform movement followed years
later, followed by the Conservative
movement, which has accepted the
rite of passage within the past 20
years.
"Right now, the numbers are great
because women didn't have that oppor-
tunity before," says Ullmann, 58.
Across the Conservative movement
today, most synagogues are encourag-
ing adult bat mitzvah because women
Left: Faye Ullmann,
one of Shaarey
Zedek's first adult bat
mitzvahs.
Below: Temple Israels
most recent bat mitz-
vah class: Top row
— Nancy Kolender,
Mona Erlich, Marc
Gorelick, Karen
Rubin, Sandy Ben-
son. Bottom row —
Mona Shane, teacher
Sheila Schiffer, Alli-
son Katz-Berlin, Kris
Cornfield.
want it. Those women who
did not have a Jewish educa-
tion are looking to have one
now because they feel that it
completes [them], it enhances
them."
Why now? Pearlman says
many young mothers become
bat mitzvah just before their
children do.
"Their kids are just start-
ing Hebrew school, and they
feel they need to," she says.
"How could you have your
child do something that you
yourself have not done, when
it's of a religious nature?"
At Temple Israel, the first
group adult bat mitzvah took
place in 1983, although the
synagogue offered private
instruction before that. Most
synagogues offer a two-year
mitzvah do so as adults.
Beth Achim, a more traditional
Conservative congregation located in
Southfield, will graduate its first class
of adult bat mitzvah this spring. The
16 women, many of whom did not
know "a letter of Hebrew" before the
program began, have learned to read
Hebrew, to understand many of the
prayers and to chant the Haftorah,
says Rabbi Herbert Yoskowitz.
The learning seems to encourage
women to participate more in the
shul. "More of the women are now
coming to Shabbat morning services,"
Yoskowitz says. "When you become
more familiar with your people's
vocabulary and you practice the
expression of it, a result is to feel more
a part of your people. They're empow-
ered to participate more in services."
Sonja Kass, 48, embarked on an
adult bat mitzvah at Beth Achim after
her three children learned to read
Hebrew at Hillel Day School.
"I just enjoyed more serious learn-
ing," she says.
Sherri Kass (no relation to Sonja),
grew up without formal Jewish learn-
ing.
"My parents paid for medical bills,
not Jewish education. I started learn-
ing with the kids with no basic back-
ground ... it's a milestone for me," she
says.
. Kass, 44, says her bat mitzvah
training teaches her children "that you
don't stop learning when you are an
adult."
Eva Lande, 53, is also part of Beth
Achim's first bat mitzvah class. She
converted to Judaism 25 years ago in
Paris.
"When I started this class, it wasn't
really my goal to go all the way [but
to] freshen up my Hebrew, read
faster."
The actual bat mitzvah ceremony,
Rabbi Yoskowitz says, is secondary to
the process of learning and "being able
to pick up a Jewish book." Neverthe-
less, it represents a milestone.
"You're already [automatically] bat
mitzvah at a certain age (12 for girls),
but we need a symbol to express that
we've not only attained it, but earned
it," he says. 0
1/30
1998
17