Bat Mitzvah Update

[iolanthe_rosa]

I have "You Don't Send Me Flowers" by Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond on a loop in my head. Aaaargh! Just shoot me now

Comments

[hopefoot]

Oh it's purple! Very pretty.

[iolanthe_rosa]

She likes purple! Yay!

[shirebound]

It sounds like you're doing great. I have to admit that I didn't know girls ever wore tallits. That one's a beauty.

[iolanthe_rosa]

I go through periods when I ignore the whole thing, then every once in a while it will come to mind and I start having huge panic feelings and then I do a few things until I feel better then I go back to ignoring it. It's not a healthy cycle, but I seem to be starting and stopping my way through it somehow.

[iolanthe_rosa]

I forgot to add: In Conservative congregations, the tallit is required for men attending services and optional for women. It is required for BOTH men and women when they stand up at the bima (where the Torah is).

[elfellon111]

I have so often heard about this ceremony, but since I'm not really close to anyone Jewish (not my choice, just the way it ended up), I was totally interested in reading such a detailed report of the preparations for your daughter's bat mitzvah. I love the tallit, it's definitely not loud, and the colours are amazing. I can understand she likes it as it can certainly be worn more often.

And your way of doing the charity thing I think is just bloody brilliant. :))

Good luck with everything - hope you'll all have a great day!

~elfie

[iolanthe_rosa]

Thanks for the support! The bat mitzvah is supposed to be a rite of passage. Different schools of thought assign different meanings to it, but I see it as the time when my daughter starts taking responsibility for her own religious education and values. So the trick is to NOT have the bat mitzvah process be so cumbersome and unpleasant that she never wants to have anything to do with Judaism ever again. It's tricksy.

[iolanthe_rosa]

Yes, exactly. The worst possible outcome of this process would be for her to feel resentful about Judaism and her Jewish education, so I'm trying so hard to make sure she does not feel over-encumbered by everything and to feel like this is a meaningful and relevant event. On the other hand, if I let her make all the decisions, there would be some, um, undesirable outcomes. Balancing act, indeed.

[starfishchick]

That tallit is really pretty!

And the invitation sounds lovely - did you know that Beatrice and Charlotte are two of my favourite names?

I also think the charity project idea sounds like a great one!

[iolanthe_rosa]

did you know that Beatrice and Charlotte are two of my favourite names

Hey, me too! She was named Beatrice for Dante's Beatrice. I spent an entire year studying the Divine Comedy in college, and I always said if I had a daughter, I would name her Beatrice. The Charlotte is for my favorite author Charlotte Bronte.

[starfishchick]

My love for Beatrice comes from Much Ado About Nothing, and Emma Thompson's version specifically.

Charlotte, I don't know why I like it. Charlotte's Web, maybe. And it works well in English and French, which is important if SFD and I have kids.