Dear Editor:
I have not been a member of JOFA for long, but I think that the work that your organization does is really important. I have also read some JOFA publications and I found the journal issue about Bat Mitzvah very interesting. For sure, the observance of this ritual is not very old; it is not as ancient as Bar Mitzvah and is not done in the same way in every country, nor in every community or every synagogue. According to the Orthodox tradition, men have more duties in the synagogue and in tefillah than women; this can explain for me why Bat Mitzvah has not been as celebrated as Bar Mitzvah. But now that the role of women is changing, in the Orthodox world as well, I think that it is right that women too have their celebration to mark the important change that this brings in their lives.
In Italy today, both boys and girls who become Bar and Bat Mitzvah must pass an exam at the Rabbinical Office, so they have to study the Jewish tradition. The family can ask for a rabbi or a Morà for girls who is known by the family to prepare the boy or the girl; otherwise, the Rabbinical Office suggests a teacher. In Italy, officially, there are only Orthodox communities, but there is no uniform way to celebrate Bat Mitzvah. Within the Jewish Community of Rome you can find different rituals. In small synagogues, girls sometimes write a comment on the parashah that they then read during Shaharit on Shabbat. But usually—and this happens in the Great Synagogue of Rome—the girls are only called, together with any Bar Mitzvah boys, at the end of the tefillah, by the Chief Rabbi, to stand in front of the opened Aron: they read a statement that says that they take on themselves the observance of the mitzvot and receive a berakhah from the Chief Rabbi. At Kiddush time and sometime at Mozzè Shabbat too, the parents organize a party outside of the synagogue or somewhere else.
I write you this to share this experience with your readers and also because I would like to know what happens in other communities.
Kind regards,
Silvia Haia Antonucci Rome, Italy Vite@mclink.it