From the Archives: The Bas Mitzvah Comes To Our Synagogue

In her article in this Journal issue, Norma Baumel Joseph refers to Orthodox Bat Mitzvah ceremonies in Brooklyn in 1944. I followed up on the lead and found fascinating detailed descriptions by Rabbi Jerome Tov Feinstein of Congregation Anshe Emes in the October 1944 copy of “Orthodox Union,” one of the forerunners to “Jewish Action”, thanks to Sharon Horowitz of the Library of Congress and finally the New York Public Library, Dorot Division. The article by Rabbi Feinstein is reproduced below. It is worth noting perhaps, that these ceremonies took place at the end of WWII. The rabbi’s reference to the “unfortunate general absence of the husband from the Sabbath and Festival table” should presumably be seen in relation to the mobilization of the men in the community. If any readers have personal knowledge of these early Bat Mitzvahs, please let us know at jofa@jofa.org

One Saturday morning after services a mother approached me and said: “Rabbi, I liked the Bar Mitzvah ceremony very much. But, tell me Rabbi, why don’t you do something for the girls? Doesn’t the Jewish girl ever become, so to say, a full fledged Jewess, obligated to carry out whatever commandments are incumbent upon an adult Jewish woman?”

“Of course there is such a time,” I responded. At the age of twelve a Jewish girl becomes religiously mature. However, since a girl does not have to put on Tefilin, is not counted for a minyan etc., no public ceremony has been created for her to make the fact of her religious maturity known. I believe, however, that you are absolutely right in suggesting that some public ceremony be introduced for the girl when she becomes a Bas Mitzvah so that she may realize her responsibilities in a religious sense, as well as in order to eliminate the feeling that in the Orthodox Synagogue the girls do not count. I shall try to figure out a way to give the girls a Bas Mitzvah ceremony without infringing upon the Shulchan Aruch.”

This happened in the late spring. I brought up the question at meetings of the Congregation and the Sisterhood and received unanimous assurances that they would aid me in every way in carrying out the program. I also talked the matter over with the men who come to daily services as well as with our daily Shulchan Aruch class. Their reaction was also very favorable and encouraging. 

Early in the fall, we organized our Bas Mitzvah class. The members of the class were pupils of the Talmud Torah and stayed on Sundays after their regular classes were over. The girls were made to realize the increasing importance of the Jewish women in the religious life of our people in this country. The points made were as follows:

1. The young American Jew will rarely interfere with his wife in her religious conduct of the home. If she will conduct a Kosher home he will not at all object. It is, therefore, most essential that the Jewish girl receive training in the management of a Kosher home.
2. The unfortunate general absence of the husband from the Sabbath and Festival table places the responsibility for creating and maintaining the religious spirit in the home on these occasions upon the mother, who very frequently must say the Kiddush, sing the Zmiros with the children, etc. If she will receive the kind of training that will inspire her to carry on alone, there is some chance that she will attempt to conduct a reasonably Jewish home.
3. The girl must receive a very vivid picture of the Jewish Sabbath, the Holidays, the preparations for these occasions and the joy with which they were conducted in the home in the past, so that she may try to recapture some of this atmosphere in her own home.
4. The girls received thorough instruction in the prayers they might need as Jewish wives and mothers, as for example: a) Prayers for candles—all occasions b) Kiddush for all occasions c) Various blessings

With these general aims in mind, the curriculum was gradually developed. The girls took notes, studied and discussed them. We used as our text-book: “What Every Jewish Woman Should Know,” by Miriam Isaacs; and as supplementary material: The Jewish Woman and Her Home” by Hyman E. Goldin, “The Ways of Her Household” by Harris M. Lazarus, “The Jewish Home Beautiful” by Betty A. Greenberg and Althea O. Sullivan, and “The Three Pillars” by Deborah M. Melamed.

After a few months of work, the first Bas Mitzvah was ready. The girl promised to continue attending the class after she became Bas Mitzvah. The entire group completed the full year’s course, even though towards the end all but one girl had already become Bas Mitzvah.

In order to obviate any possible criticism, I decided to conduct the ceremony at our Late Friday Evening Oneg Shabbat. With a little bit of publicity in our Bulletin and special Post Cards, we had a record crowd for the Friday of the first Bas Mitzvah and for every other Friday on which we had a Bas Mitzvah. People from neighboring congregations came to see what it was all about. Relatives appeared in large numbers. The parents of the Bas Mitzvah were hosts for the evening and served refreshments. The girls began receiving Bas Mitzvah gifts from their relatives. Occasionally we had a Bas Mitzvah in the evening and a Bar Mitzvah in the morning. Both were treated equally and our girls and women began to feel that they were given a “square deal.” Remarks were uniformly enthusiastic and complimentary. 

People who had generally kept away from the synagogue were attracted by what they considered evidence of a progressive point of view. The ceremony generally consisted of the following:

1. Before sundown the girl who was to become Bas Mitzvah on that evening would come to Shul and light a pair of large candles in the vestry rooms where the ceremony was to take place later in the evening. She would light these candles in a pair of beautiful candlesticks presented to her by the Sisterhood. She was to light candles thereafter every Friday and Holiday in her home in these candlesticks.
2. Remarks by the Rabbi introducing the ceremony, with some reference to the significance of the Bas Mitzvah or the place of women in Jewish religious life.
3. The girl would sing the Kiddush for Friday Evening or for one of the Holidays. Some would also translate the Kiddush to the delight of all present.
4. The candidate was asked questions based on the curriculum for Bas Mitzvah by the President of the Sisterhood or another appropriate person, who would upon the satisfactory completion of the test, congratulate the Bas Mitzvah and install her as a member of the Junior Sisterhood.
5. The Rabbi would then introduce the Bas Mitzvah who would make a speech along the lines of a Bar Mitzvah.
6. The Rabbi responded by giving a message from the Portion of the week, Midrash, etc., and concluded in the same manner as for a Bar Mitzvah.