Initiation Ritual
“Bat Mitzvah”
| Deborah Feiffer
Dartmouth College 2018 |
General Information About Item:
- Genre: Customary Lore
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: United States
- Informant: Deborah Feiffer
- Date Collected: 11/1/18
Informant Data: Deborah Feiffer is a 20 year old Sophomore studying at Dartmouth College. Feiffer grew grew up in New Jersey and Connecticut. She identifies as a reformed Jew. Both of her parents were raised Jewish. Her dad was raised reformative and her mom was raised conservative, but now the family belongs to a reformed synagogue, where she was bah mitzvah. Her family visits the synagogue about once a month and for all important holidays. Feiffer also grew up going to Jewish summer camp where it had a Jewish focus, but welcomed different types of Judaism so it wasn’t necessarily reformed or conservative.
Social Context: I collected this folklore from Deborah Feiffer in Novack cafe at Dartmouth College. Deborah and I are familiar with one another, as we shared dormitory floors our Freshman year and her old roommate is my roommate this year! As both her parents are Jews, Deborah grew up surrounded by the Jewish culture, regularly attending her synagogue.
Cultural Context: The Jewish culture revolves around a tight knit community. Jews have suffered discrimination and persecution for thousands of years, so inherently, they take enjoy the companionship in their community. Therefore, Bar Mitzvahs are a common celebration in the jewish culture as a way to unite the people while rejoicing in a child’s coming of age ceremony. This ritual is perhaps the quintessential ritual for the Jewish people, and this explains how it is so well preserved through time.
Item: A bat mitzvah is a coming of age ceremony for Jewish girls, like Deborah, who are twelve years old. For boys, this ceremony is called a bar mitzvah and is celebrated at thirteen years old. During the bat mitzvah, the girl makes a speech accompanied by candles. Next, other family members and friends also speak.
Audio File: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jAw928fHVBVmMTFbbhz1bdhlihm9UWS9/view?usp=sharing
Transcript for Bat Mitzvah:
“My bat mitzvah party, it was at a local country club, and all my family and friends were there from both sides. All the same people that attended services were at the party. And there was some dancing, some food, and a nice meal. And then at one point there was a candle lighting ceremony where I light twelve candles or thirteen depending on how old I am, and for each candle I dedicated it to a different person which is pretty standard for a lot of bar and bah mitzvahs. And you give a nice speech for each person inviting them up which is usually pretty corny and then some people spoke, like my parents about me. And overall, it was just a fun, middle school party.”
Informant’s Comments:
- It was a fun celebration
- I take my religion seriously!
Collector’s Comments:
- Deborah had a really nice time at her bat mitzvah. It doesn’t seem like it was incredibly important to her, but she still enjoyed it.
Collector’s Name and Information:
Khia Hollyer 18
Dartmouth College
Russian 13
Fall 2018
Tags/Keywords: Jewish, Bat Mitzvah, tradition, reformed