Mazal Tov!

I had the privilege of attending the Bat Mitzvah of a student this weekend. I walked away from the experience impressed by the beauty of the ceremony. C. was surrounded by family and friends, leading the Shabat prayer service with their affirmation and support. Her parents and grandparents literally and figuratively passed the Torah down to her, a beautiful symbol of the legacy of faith in Judaism. I marveled at the skill and poise with which she read her Torah portion, and the grace and humor with which she presented the lessons she had learned from her reading. I wept at the beautiful blessing her rabbi bestowed on her as he compared her spirit, grace and wit to Miriam in the Old Testament, and prayed for her to be a continued source of grace and strength to her family and community for many years to come.

Throughout the service, I recognized so many readings, psalms and prayers. How often I thought, "So that's why we do this!" The symbolism was so deep. The Wall of Jerusalem Stone, the glass mosaic on the front of the Ark depicting creation, the 19th century Torah in the sanctuary that survived the Holocaust, the Eternal Light--it was all so beautiful. I loved listening to the Hebrew chanting, as I tried desperately to follow along with the translation.

I wish that we had a coming-of-age ceremony comparable in Catholicism--Confirmation, though a lovely and important sacrament, does not hold the same depth of responsibility for the candidate, nor the personal affirmation of the community as a bar or bat mitzvah does. What a beautiful experience for a young woman!