This year I had the privilege of studying Torah with Jenny Feldstein in preparation for her Bat Mitzvah. Jenny and her family strongly felt that the Bat Mitzvah primarily represents initiation into the world of Torah and mitzvot. What better way to prepare for such an experience than by intense study of Jewish texts? Jenny and I spent approximately four to six hours a week studying a chapter of Talmud. We chose the Drisha Beit Midrash as our place of study, as it was important for us to be surrounded by other women studying Torah. I wanted Jenny to be introduced to the sense of ownership and connectedness with Jewish texts that full time students at Drisha experience after years of study.

We studied Talmud for no other purpose than to explore what our ancient traditions and laws offer. In preparation for the event, many girls choose to focus upon female role models, or upon topics relating to the time period in which their Bat Mitzvah falls. Jenny and I strongly felt that a Bat Mitzvah represents the embracing of an entire tradition of law and interpretation, and thus chose to study Talmud, a strong link in the chain of transmission of halacha. Our one-on-one study sessions afforded us the opportunity to question, reflect and internalize the material. We did not focus upon the Bat Mitzvah ceremony or speech, but upon our role as students and interpreters of traditional texts. My primary goal was to instill in Jenny a sense that learning is fun, exciting and interesting. We celebrated occasions on which we found solutions to difficult problems, remembered difficult words, or recognized a tanna or amora whom we had met before.

One of the greatest problems of many Bar and Bat Mitzvah preparation programs is the sense that the Bar or Bat Mitzvah celebration is a culminating event, a sort of graduation experience to which there is little or no follow-up. The Bar or Bat Mitzvah ceremony all too often ends up representing the celebration of the conclusion of a learning process, rather than celebration of its beginning. Jenny’s Bat Mitzvah ceremony was true testimony to the fact that a Bat Mitzvah represents entrance into a tradition and acceptance of life-long commitments. Jenny made a siyyum, a ceremonial conclusion of the chapter of Talmud we had studied by presenting a well constructed lesson on the last topic we had dealt with. However, the most important element of a siyyum is recitation of the hadran, a text which affirms our eternal commitment to study: “we have concluded this text, but we will return to it, and it will return to us.” Returning to study became the theme of Jenny’s Bat Mitzvah, as she completed one text, but reaffirmed her commitment to study more and delve ever deeper.

The seriousness of her commitment was evident in the first week following Jenny’s Bat Mitzvah. I received a phone message from her mother explaining that despite Jenny’s busy schedule of piano lessons and extra-curricular activities, Jenny was anxious to get back to her Gemara. Jenny truly viewed her Bat Mitzvah as an introduction to the world of Torah study, and initiation into a community of women who are actively engaged in Torah texts. In a sense, Jenny had learned the path to the Beit Midrash. And so months after her “official” Bat Mitzvah celebration the real ceremony takes place; Jenny and I continue to study with the promise of “hadran alach v’hadrach alan”: if you return to the text, it will return to you.