Camp Cejwin bat mitzvah, Port Jervis,
N.Y., 1935

arts & entertainment >> on the cover

gifolet”

A new exhibit at the JCC's Janice Charach Gallery tells with
pictures, stories and memorabilia the story of a coming-of-age rite.

Cadet Sherri Langston, Company D-1,

Marla Hornsten (today rabbi at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield) pictured with her

in 1988. She was the first cadet to
observe her bat mitzvah ceremony at

father, Dr. Tom Hornsten. She celebrated her bat mitzvah at Temple Beth Am in
Seattle, Wash., in 1982.

West Point.

I

Elizabeth Applebaum
Special to the Jewish News

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

decided his daughter, who was turning 12,
should have the same opportunity accorded
Jewish boys about to become adults.
So that evening he worked with Judith as
they studied a few brachot (blessings) and
the parshah, the weekly Torah portion.
The next morning, Judith stood at the
bimah of her father's synagogue, the Society
for the Advancement of Judaism in New
York, where she recited a few blessings and
read from the Torah. It was, she would later
say, "enough to shock a lot of people —
including my own grandparents and aunts
and uncles:'

Nine years later, in 1931, the first recorded
bat mitzvah at a Reform temple was held,
and soon the Conservative movement came
on board and made the ritual the norm, with
services at first held on Friday nights only.
After almost 91 years, a bat mitzvah obser-
vance is pretty much standard for Jewish
girls everywhere. They are lavish affairs that
cost thousands or family-only gatherings.
In some congregations, the bat mitzvah girl
will read from the Torah or give a speech. In
others, it's simply recognition that the girl
is a bat mitzvah, meaning that she is now
responsible for her own actions, no longer
simply a child under her parents' care.
On Thursday, Feb. 21, the Jewish
Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit's
Janice Charach Gallery will open "Bat
Mitzvah Comes of Age an exhibition and

sale. The event, which runs through March
31, will include photographs from the local
community, plus a touring exhibit co-pre-
sented by the National Museum of American
Jewish History and Moving Traditions.
Developed after interviews with more than
150 women, "Bat Mitzvah Comes of Age"
traces the evolution of the bat mitzvah from
a small, private moment observed by a hand-
ful of congregations to its prominence today,
including the development of the adult bat
mitzvah ceremony. It includes memorabilia,
artifacts and numerous photographs.
There are photos of the famous, like
Sherri Langston, the first cadet to observe
a bat mitzvah at West Point, along with bat
mitzvah preparations in the most unlikely of
places, like summer camp.
The exhibit also considers the way in

which what it means to become a responsi-
ble adult woman has changed over the years.
Remember those "How to Make a Home"
pamphlets from the 1950s ("Catering for
his comfort will provide you with immense
personal satisfaction:' reads The Good Wife's
Guide of 1955, which also advises: "A good
wife always knows her place")? Some bat
mitzvah "tutoring" of years ago included the
best way to set a table.
There is a universal truth about bat
mitzvah ceremonies, whether observed in a
Humanistic or Orthodox home: There will be
many photos, some of which will be beauti-
ful; others which will be more frightening
than anything out of a Stephen King novel.
The photos in this exhibit are sometimes
stirring (a girl who proudly holds a sefer Torah
and later became a rabbi) and sometimes
cringe-worthy, their subjects the unwitting
victims of times that advocated super-huge
glasses, go-go boots, pencil-thin eyebrows and
hair molded into a cotton candy shape.
Gallery Director Terri Steam first learned
of "Bat Mitzvah Comes of Age" from CAJM,
the Council of American Jewish Museums.
Staff told her: "We have the best exhibit for
you:'
When Steam got a chance to take a look
for herself, she agreed and promptly set up
arranging for the exhibit to make a stop in
West Bloomfield.
Among Stearns favorite items in the local
exhibit is a bat mitzvah photo of the gal-
lery's namesake, Janice Charach, which will
be shown, along with other pictures from
throughout the years — all from Metro
Detroit — on the upper level.
Steam also created a gift shop, filled with
Judaica items perfect for the bat mitzvah girl,
as part of the exhibit.
The timing of this latest event could not be
more perfect for Stearn, whose own daugh-
ter, Paige, a student at Hillel Day School, will
become a bat mitzvah later this month.
There will be photos, of course, but prob-
ably none in the tradition of Steam's own bat
mitzvah.
Bravely, she holds up a photo with highly
stylized hair, fluffy and hair-sprayed to death.
"This:' she says, "is my bat mitzvah pic-
ture. It still hangs in my mother's house. It's
horrible:'

❑

Elizabeth Applebaum is marketing director of

the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan

Detroit.

"Bat Mitzvah Comes of Age," an exhi-
bition and sale, runs Feb. 21-March 31
at the Janice Charach Gallery in the
Jewish Community Center in West
Bloomfield. Free admission. There
will be an opening reception at 7 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 21. Gallery hours:10
a.m.-5 p.m. Sundays-Wednesdays, 10
a.m.-7 p.m. Thursdays, noon-4 p.m.
Sundays. (248) 432-5448; www.
jccdet.org .

February 14 • 2013

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