About US: Happy 100th birthday to the bat mitzvah

'These are powerful people who are attacking children': Parents respond to Texas's latest anti-trans directive; White-supremacist propaganda remained high in the United States in 2021, new ADL report says; Anti-Black racism is upending easy narratives about the exodus from Ukraine; What do women want at work? It's not just better pay, study finds.; A Virginia boy's battle with diabetes has shaped his life — and sent him to the White House; I'm a Black woman who creates crossword puzzles. That's rare, but it shouldn't be.; Race in America: Health Disparities with Secretary Xavier Becerra & Santa Ana Mayor Vicente Sarmiento; High school's pioneering ethnic studies class is helping students learn about identity; Trapped in Silicon Valley's hidden caste system; The rise in Black female women's basketball coaches is sparked by trailblazers; The Latinas of 'Euphoria' leave me wanting more ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Sign up for this newsletter Read online Candid conversations about identity in 21st-century America.     Please welcome guest host Emily Guskin, polling analyst for The Washington Post.   By Emily Guskin  Email Happy birthday to the bat mitzvah, which celebrates its centennial this month! The bar mitzvah for boys existed for years, but in March 1922, Judith Kaplan Eisenstein was the first girl to have a bat mitzvah. She later wrote about the Friday night event where she read from the haftorah: "The institution of Bat Mitzvah had been born without incident." Less than 40 years later, my mom was the first bat mitzvah at her synagogue of mostly German Jewish immigrants on the North Side of Chicago in April 1959. It was a lot like Einstein's experience: At my mother's conservative synagogue, instead of reading from the Torah on Saturday like her brothers did at their bar mitzvahs, she read the haftorah from a book on Friday night. (The haftorah is a series of selections from the Book of Prophets and not that big Torah scroll people often associate with Judaism.)  My bat mitzvah at our Reform synagogue was just like the boys'. I read from the Torah and the haftorah and helped lead the service on a Saturday in December 1996. But even now, not all girls read from the Torah at their bat mitzvahs. In more traditional synagogues, girls read from the haftorah — just like my mom did in 1959 — while boys read from the Torah scroll. ADVERTISEMENT   Even though my best friend and I are about the same age, she had a bat mitzvah much like my mom's: At her conservative congregation, she read from the haftorah on a Friday night in March 1997 and led the service. She has remained active in Jewish life and later this month she will read from the Torah scroll at her synagogue in New Jersey. I can't think of a better way to celebrate this milestone in Jewish feminism.  Another way is to read the great story by Menachem Wecker about how that first bat mitzvah was a "landmark and steppingstone" for equality.  (undefined) How a coming-of-age ritual for Jewish girls aided the rise of women's rights The bat mitzvah, 100 years old this month, was a "landmark and steppingstone" for equality. By Menachem Wecker ●  Read more »   'These are powerful people who are attacking children': Parents respond to Texas's latest anti-trans directive By Caitlin Gibson ●  Read more »   White-supremacist propaganda remained high in the United States in 2021, new ADL report says By Michelle Boorstein ●  Read more »   ADVERTISEMENT   Anti-Black racism is upending easy narratives about the exodus from Ukraine Perspective ●  By Nana Osei-Opare and Thom Loyd ●  Read more »   What do women want at work? It's not just better pay, study finds. By Anne Branigin ●  Read more »   A Virginia boy's battle with diabetes has shaped his life — and sent him to the White House Perspective ●  By Petula Dvorak ●  Read more »   I'm a Black woman who creates crossword puzzles. That's rare, but it shouldn't be. Perspective ●  By Portia Lundie ●  Read more »   Race in America: Health Disparities with Secretary Xavier Becerra & Santa Ana Mayor Vicente Sarmiento Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Latinos have been among the communities hit hardest from the health effects of the virus. On Monday, March 7 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time, join Washington Post Live for conversations with Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Santa Ana Mayor Vicente Sarmiento about the lessons learned from the last two years and structural solutions for the future. By Washington Post Live ●  Read more »   High school's pioneering ethnic studies class is helping students learn about identity By Janette Villafana | L.A. Taco ●  Read more »   Trapped in Silicon Valley's hidden caste system By Sonia Paul | Wired ●  Read more »   The rise in Black female women's basketball coaches is sparked by trailblazers By Sean Hurd | Andscape ●  Read more »   The Latinas of 'Euphoria' leave me wanting more By Sofía Aguilar March | Latina Media Co. ●  Read more »     Word on the street   We think you'll like this newsletter Check out Must Reads for a curated selection of our best journalism in your inbox every Saturday, plus a peek behind the scenes into how one story came together. Sign up »

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