A curriculum for Jewish educators designed by Moving Traditions for students 5th grade and up 

Session overview:

Moving Traditions' educational team has designed this curriculum for clergy and educators who work with preteens and teens to explore the themes of Rise Up/Bat Mitzvah at 100.

This curriculum offers 60 minutes of instruction (depending on length of group discussions and options).

Objectives:

By the end of this session participants will

• Learn about the history of bat mitzvah
• Understand idea that Judaism is open to gender critique and is continually transformed by it
• Explore the importance of making rituals more inclusive and relevant

MATERIALS:

Pens/pencils (1 per participant)

Twelve Questions About Bat Mitzvah (divided into three pages below)

 Handout: Quiz Part 1 (double -sided, 1 per participant)

 Handout: Quiz Part 2 (1 per participant)

 If you prefer an electronic format: Kahoot Quiz

Handout: Daughters of Zelophehad Text Study (Numbers 27:3-4) (1 per participant below)

Chart/Butcher Paper (1-2 pages: for recording answers in the concluding activity, and for making a scoreboard)

Fat Sharpies or poster markers

TEACHER PREP:

Log into the Instagram stories for JudithKaplan1922  

Optional: Create a ‘scoreboard’ for the quiz.

For your own learning, we recommend the following:

This excellent audio-based historical overview of bat mitzvah and b’mitzvah history in general 

Adventures in Jewish Studies Podcast (associationforjewishstudies.org)

This series of videos on bat mitzvah history from Rabbi Carole Balin

1. INTRODUCING BAT MITZVAH AT 100 (5 Minutes)

Ask: What do we mean when we say that we are marking an anniversary?

What kind of “anniversaries” do you mark or do you see marked in the media? (e.g., Marriages, tragic events, awards shows, etc.) 

Is there anything that you are keeping track of and counting from a certain date—maybe even something you saw on Instagram stories in your “on this day” archive—where you noted an "anniversary”?

Say: Anniversaries remind us of where we have been and where we are. They often tell us about progress we have made. And sometimes they remind us of past traumas that shaped us individually or as a society or community.

Now let’s bring this conversation to our topic today: You have probably heard that there have been bar mitzvahs for over five hundred years, but when do you think the first bat mitzvah took place? (Ask students)

The answer is 1922. We are talking about anniversaries today because we—along with people all over the Jewish world—are marking the 100^th anniversary of a significant moment in Jewish history: the first American bat mitzvah. This anniversary is on the Shabbat of March 18^th and 19^th 2022. We want to take some time now to reflect on what happened a century ago and celebrate the courage of the many people who helped open Jewish learning and leadership up to people of all genders.

We are going to have some fun with this—and do it with a twelve question quiz.

2. 8 QUESTIONS ABOUT BAT MITZVAH: THE QUIZ PART 1 (15 minutes)

Facilitator’s Tip:

You have the option of making teams for this quiz and keeping the scores of the teams or having each individual keep score for themselves. Either way you will want to keep score after each question, awarding ten points for each correct answer. A “bat mitzvah” related prize like some silly socks for the winners would be an added enticement.

DISTRIBUTE Quiz Page 1 (double-sided) and writing utensils

SAY:

Start with just the first side of this page, questions 1-4. Do your best to answer these questions, and we’ll look at them together in a minute.

After five or so minutes, when you have the sense that everyone is ready, read through the following answers and explanations aloud. You can keep score for teams or allow them to individually score their own papers.

1. Which of these inventions was not yet created in 1922?

1. The radio
2. The traffic light
3. The Band-Aid

The Correct Answer is B: In 1921, Radio started broadcasting and Band-Aids were invented. Traffic lights didn’t arrive on the scene until 1923.

2. In 1922, who could vote in every state in America?

1. Men who were considered “White” 
2. Men and women who were considered “White”
3. All men and women 

Correct Answer is B: Women were given the right to vote in 1920 with the passage of the 19^th Amendment, but many states restricted women based on racial categories. In many states Native American women could not vote until 1924, Asian American women could not vote until 1952, and Black American women could not vote until 1965.

3. In 1922, who could immigrate to America and become a citizen?

1. People from Europe or Latin America
2. People from Northern or Western Europe or Latin America
3. People from any nation.

Correct answer is B: In 1921, the U.S. Government passed an emergency act to stop immigrants from Southern Europe (Italy) and from Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia). These laws were intended to keep out Italian and Jewish immigrants.

4. In 1922, the majority of American girls were required by their schools to study something called “Domestic Sciences” or “Home Economics” This included studying what topics?

1. Cooking
2. Cleaning
3. Sewing
4. Budgeting
5. All of the above.

Correct answer is E: In 1917, the Federal Government funded home economics—the attempt to train young women to be future housewives. Some of these classes even included lessons on repairing home appliances or caring for infants. In the 1960s these classes were opened to all students or dropped from the curriculum.

SAY:

Ok, good work everyone. Now that we have some sense of what was going on in this country in the early 1920s, we are going to turn to some questions about the history of bat mitzvah. You may have to guess at many of these questions but try your best.

5. The first record of a rabbi writing about a “bat mitzvah” is from what country?

1. Iraq
2. Italy
3. Denmark

The Correct Answer is C: Rabbi Mussafya, a Spanish rabbi who lived in Denmark in the 17^th century, was the first to say that a bat mitzvah requires a special celebration called a ‘seudat mitzvah’—or ‘mitzvah meal.’ Rabbis in the 19^th century in Iraq and in Italy also wrote about bat mitzvah ceremonies.

6. The first Rabbi in America to promote a bat mitzvah as a ritual in the synagogue was Mordecai Kaplan, who asked his daughter Judith to be the first. He was inspired by…

1. Other rabbis outside of the United States who were creating private bat mitzvahs.
2. Women who demanded the right to vote as part of the early feminist movement.
3. Friends of his daughter Judith

The Correct Answer is B: Kaplan was inspired by the passing of the 19^th Amendment (extending the right to vote to women) and the early feminists. Kaplan wanted to create a new ritual within the Jewish community which would help advance gender equality. He spoke with synagogue leaders and with Judith, his daughter, who had recently turned twelve years old, about what a bat mitzvah would look like.

7. Judith Kaplan, the first bat mitzvah in America, did not do everything that many girls now do in a bat mitzvah ceremony. For example:

1. She read from a Chumash – a printed version of the Torah – not the Torah itself.
2. She did not stand on the stage – the bimah – of the synagogue.
3. She did not wear a tallit.
4. All of the above

The Correct Answer is D: Rabbi Kaplan was not sure exactly how to initiate the first bat mitzvah and although he got permission from the leaders of the synagogue to have the event, he had not thought through all the details until the week before. In later years, girls would read from the Torah, stand at the bimah, and wear a tallit.

8. What was Judith Kaplan’s personal experience of being the first bat mitzvah like?

1. She hated it and felt like she was doing it for her father.
2. She felt proud and noted that “no thunder sounded, no lightning struck.”
3. She felt unprepared and said, “It was rushed.”

The correct answer is B: Judith was an excellent student and a classically trained musician, so she learned the blessings the night before her bat mitzvah with relative ease. Later on in her life she would go on to earn a doctorate in Music, focused specifically on the study of Sephardic Jewish musical traditions.

3. JUDITH KAPLAN VIDEO SERIES (15 Minutes)

SAY:

We are now going to take a look at a short Instagram series that dives deeper into Judith’s story.

After playing each scene, ask the corresponding question(s) for a short discussion before moving on to the next one.

Facilitator’s Tip: The Instagram story content can be found at JudithKaplan1922

After playing each video, ask the question connected to the video before moving to the next one.

Episode 1:

Based on this video, what do you think made Judy a good candidate to be the first bat mitzvah?  

Episode 2:

What changes happening in the wider world in 1922 made Judy and her friends hopeful?   

Episode 3:

On their walk in the park, Judy questions ideas about God. Do you think that her father gave her a good response?

Episode 4:

Is the music that inspires your parent(s) the same music that inspires you?

Episode 5:

Judy goes on a “rant” about the differences between the stories of women in the Torah and stories of men in the Torah. Do you agree with her opinion? Which stories about women in the Torah are positive?

Episode 6:

Judy’s father encourages her to read and think critically about what she is reading. What role do you think that books play in helping to change the world?    

What changes does Judy hope will happen regarding women’s rights?

Episode 7:

Judy compares her grandmothers’ negative attitude about bat mitzvahs to the ‘antis’—the women who argued that women should not have the right to vote. Do you think that this a fair comparison?

Episode 8:

How does Judy relate to the message of the Torah portion that she is assigned to read?

Episode 9:

What did you notice about the way Judy described the set-up for seating during her Bat Mitzvah? How do you think she felt about where she was asked to sit?

Episode 10:

Judy’s party was not fancy – favorite foods, friends, and a few gifts – but it seems like she had a good time. What do you think are the most important elements of a party?

Episode 11:

What do you think that Judy felt, at age 82, when she was in front of people reading from the Torah at her second bat mitzvah?

4. FOUR MORE QUESTIONS ABOUT BAT MITZVAH: THE QUIZ PART 2 (10 Minutes)

SAY: Now we are going back to our quiz!

DISTRIBUTE Handout Quiz Page 2 which has questions 8-12

SAY:

And for the last few questions of our quiz, we are going to move forward in time. We’ll see how Bat Mitzvah changed and what other changes resulted. Do your best to answer these questions, and then we’ll look at them together.

After 5 or so minutes, when you have the sense that everyone is ready, read through the following answers and explanations aloud. You can keep score for teams or allow them to individually score their own papers.

9. When did girls and women start to carry the Torah scroll around the synagogue?

1. The 1940s
2. The 1960s
3. The 1980s 

The correct answer is A: In 1945, a group of young women in the synagogue where Judith Kaplan became bat mitzvah decided that they would challenge the tradition that only men were allowed to carry the Torah. They argued that young women were strong enough to carry the scroll and to carry the scroll and dance with it on Simchat Torah.

10. In what decade were the first bat mitzvah ceremonies for Orthodox girls?

1. The 1930s
2. The 1940s
3. The 1970s

The correct answer is B: Orthodox Rabbi Jerome Tov Feinstein allowed bat mitzvah ceremonies at Anshe Emes in Brooklyn, NY, starting in 1944. The ceremonies were held on Friday nights. It took decades, however, for bat mitzvah to become standard practice in Orthodox synagogues. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan had the first bat mitzvah at Lincoln Square Synagogue, an Orthodox synagogue in New York City, in 1973.

11. When did the first woman Torah scribe complete writing a Torah scroll?

1. 1968
2. 1991
3. 2007

The correct answer is C: In 2007, British-born artist Jen Taylor Friedman became the first woman soferet— scribe—to complete the writing of an entire Torah scroll. She is one of a small number of women who have trained in the traditional scribal arts to write mezuzot, megillot, and Torah scrolls.

12. What names have non-binary and trans Jewish adolescents used for the celebration that marks when they become  B’Mitzvahs?

1. They Mitzvah
2. Zera Mitzvah
3. Ban Mitzvah
4. All of the above

The correct answer is D: In the late 2010s, as the first non-binary b’mitzvahs took place in the U.S. and the U.K. new terms were adopted, many of them Hebrew terms that were gender-neutral, including Zera, meaning offspring and Ban which combined the words for son and daughter (ben and bat.) Now most communities are using the phrase b’mitzvah to refer to a non-binary celebration. Non-binary people did not win the right to claim non-binary identity on a birth certificate until 2017.  

Facilitator’s tip:

You may want to explore the changes that have happened to the ritual itself, including the new language that has been developed for the Gabbai to call non-binary people for an aliyah. This new language substitutes “na la’amod” (please stand) for the gendered ya’amod and ta’amod and it uses ‘mi mishpachat’ (from the family of) or ‘mi beit’ (from the house of) instead of ben (son of) and bat (daughter of.) There is an excellent guide to these new guidelines published by Hadar:

 https://images.shulcloud.com/14265/uploads/Documents/gender-neutral-ritual-file/kehilat-hadar-gender-inclusive-ritual-guidelines-may-2018.pdf

5. A JEWISH TEXT STUDY ON GENDER EQUITY (10 Minutes)

SAY:

Why does the first bat mitzvah matter to us now?

Think about a time in your life that you argued for fairness—that you saw that someone was not being treated equally and you said something about it.

Before she became a justice on the supreme court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg argued many cases on gender equity as a civil rights lawyer. In the early 1970s, she helped women win the right to obtain a credit card from a bank, something that many banks offered only with a husband’s approval.

ASSIGN: hevruta (study partners)

DISTRIBUTE: the Text Study Handout

Over three thousand years before that, there was another debate about women and their economic rights. In the time of the Torah, only men could own property. When a man died, his sons would become the owners of the property.  But we have a story in the Torah about five women who pleaded their case to own property before Moses. As the Hebrew people were camped along the Jordan River, preparing to enter the land of Israel, Moses told each tribal leader, who were all men, about the portion of the land where they would settle. One of the tribal leaders, Zelophehad, had died in the wilderness and did not have a son to claim his share of the land.  Five women—all the daughters of Zelophehad—Mahlah, Noa, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah—stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the chieftains, and all the other male leaders at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and said:

 “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not one of the faction, Korah’s faction, which banded together against God and was punished, our father died by his own accord and he has left no sons. Let not our father’s name be lost to his clan just because he had no son! Give us a holding among our father’s kinsmen!” (Numbers 27:3-4)
 

ג  אָבִינוּ, מֵת בַּמִּדְבָּר, וְהוּא לֹא-הָיָה בְּתוֹךְ הָעֵדָה הַנּוֹעָדִים עַל-יְהוָה, בַּעֲדַת-קֹרַח:  כִּי-בְחֶטְאוֹ מֵת, וּבָנִים לֹא-הָיוּ לוֹ.

ד  לָמָּה יִגָּרַע שֵׁם-אָבִינוּ מִתּוֹךְ מִשְׁפַּחְתּוֹ, כִּי אֵין לוֹ בֵּן; תְּנָה-לָּנוּ אֲחֻזָּה, בְּתוֹךְ אֲחֵי אָבִינוּ.

SAY:

With your hevruta, your study partners, discuss these questions:

DISCUSS:

What do you think Moses did?

What do you think he should do?

Why, according to the daughters’ words, do they deserve to be given the holding?

Say:

The Torah recounts that Moses consults God. God responds by declaring that the women are correct and that the property must go to them.

DISCUSS:

Why do you think Moses had to speak with God before providing an answer?

What did consulting with God accomplish?

Say:

The rabbis of the Talmud (BT Bava Batra 119b), praised Zelophehad’s daughters for being wise (chachamot), creative, (darshanyiot), and pious (rachmanyiot). This shows that even in a traditional religious system that was dominated by men, there was a space for challenging  narrow gender norms. At the time of the Torah there were many other gender-based restrictions, and it would take many more centuries to address them. Today we salute these women, their allies and other pioneers of all genders—from the daughters of Zelophehad to Judith and her father to Ruth Bader Ginsburg and beyond for speaking up.

Facilitator’s note: If your synagogue has a specific history around gender and inclusion that you want to convey this would be a good time to include it. The video below is a powerful account from women who were first in their synagogue or community to step up to the bimah for a Bat Mitzvah: 

Bat Mitzvah Comes of Age -- Interview Excerpts - Bing video

6. CONCLUDING EXERCISE (5 Minutes)

Say:

Think back—from the twentieth- and twenty-first century history we discussed in the quiz, to the Torah text we just studied. So many changes and evolutions took place to what once was a male-only, patriarchal tradition.

And even today while we sit here, the way we talk about this rite of passage—the name itself—is evolving.

ASK

What other names have you heard used for marking the moment a child turns 12 or 13 years old?

You can record their answers on a flipchart. If they don’t bring these up, you should make sure to do so: b’mitzvah, b’nai mitzvah, b-mitzvah, they mitzvah, and just, mitzvah. Be sure to explain the Hebrew behind any terms they don’t understand.

ASK

• What do you think it should be called?
• What are other ways that we can make this rite of passage equal and fair for students of all genders?

Facilitator’s Tip:  

There might be students who are thinking about where and how that they would like to define what is happening in their lives vis-a-vis gender identity and expression. Those students may not be comfortable with answering a question like “What are you calling yours?” in front of all their classmates.

Optional:

You might end by telling the story of the Women of the Wall and the ongoing struggle to bring gender equity to the Kotel.

Background:

Women of the Wall | Jewish Women's Archive (jwa.org)

Latest news:

https://www.womenofthewall.org.il/in-the-news/

Note to Educator:

When you are done using this session, please take the teacher feedback survey and help us to learn from your experience! Use this link:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BMPreteenSessions21