February 17, 2009
Source: Religion News Service
One by one, some with walkers, some on oxygen, they approached the podium to recite Jewish prayers usually reserved for 12-year-old girls.
Ten women—ages 89 to 96—are rehearsing for their upcoming bat mitzvah, a coming-of-age ritual they never got to experience. When they were girls, Jewish custom celebrated only boys—with a bar mitzvah—becoming young adults.
Today, the ritual is routinely extended to girls, but rarely to seniors, especially a group whose members are almost all in their 90s.
“All through history, boys and men got the better deal,” said Evelyn Bonder, 90. “But today that has changed.”