Mark Oppenheimer, the author who recently gave us a brief history of the television bar mitzvah, has just published a book about the Jewish rite of passage ceremony across America. One of the notions the book puts forth is that 12 and 13 year olds cannot intellectually grasp the importance of actually “coming of age.” In fact, more than one critic of the book suggests that we do away with the age requirement for bar/bat mitzvahs altogether.
For more, including how one convert doesn’t feel so bad that he missed the opportunity for an immense shmorgasbord and a plethora of pinched cheeks, read this “Bye, bye Bar Mitzvah” post.