This paper examines the ways Jewish feminist theory and praxis are intricately linked through innovations in women’s religious rituals, specifically the bat mitzvah.  Existing scholarship on the bat mitzvah is limited.  My focus on both national and local analyses of the bat mitzvah from a feminist perspective demonstrates how emerging American national Jewish feminist movements and theories challenged specific Jewish congregations to change their ritual practices.  To trace the history of the bat mitzvah on a national level, I analyze how Jewish feminists and the governing bodies of the Jewish Conservative movement negotiate the meanings of the bat mitzvah.   On the local level, I analyze the development of the bat mitzvah in four New Mexico congregations using Paula Hyman’s (1990) pioneering Jewish historical work as a guide.  I argue that bat mitzvah ceremonies in New Mexico shifted to become more equitable as a direct result of Jewish feminism.  Jewish feminist theories transformed the bat mitzvah into feminist praxis on the national level as well.  Consequently, the contemporary bat mitzvah, where a young woman is recognized as an equal participant in Judaism, is Jewish feminist theory in praxis.                     

The bat mitzvah is significant because it places women in a position of religious leadership where they can read and interpret Torah (the central Jewish religious text).  Women and men’s roles were strictly divided in traditional Judaism.  Women’s religious duties were limited to maintaining a Jewish home while Torah study and Talmudic interpretation remained the sole province of men. Though motives behind the establishment of the bat mitzvah ceremony varied slightly in individual congregations, nationally, the debate over this ceremony centered on questions of preserving Jewish tradition while extending ritual equality to women. The bat mitzvah is Jewish feminist praxis because it affirms Jewish women as leaders and members of the Jewish community.  Celebrating a bat mitzvah ceremony means acting on the conviction that women are an integral part of Jewish history and community, thus, challenging the andocentric nature of Judaism. 

My praxis as a Jewish feminist scholar is to document the bat mitzvah and Jewish women’s feminist history as a way of re-creating Jewish tradition.  I came to this study because I am the first and only, woman in my family to have a bat mitzvah ceremony.  Through the process of learning Hebrew and Jewish prayers, writing a speech about my Torah portion, and learning to speak publicly in front of my entire family and Jewish community, I was brought closer to Judaism and to feminism.  However, while my bat mitzvah was empowering for me as a young Jewish woman, it was actually the complexity of negotiating my gender and Jewish identity that prompted my early awareness of feminism.  In the Conservative California congregation of my youth (in the early 1990’s), women were still excluded from counting in the minyan, or quorum of ten adults, necessary to remove the Torah from the ark to be read.  My mother bought this to my attention one morning as I was trying to encourage her to attend the Saturday morning services.  She said it would not matter if she went since she would not count towards the minyan.  I was shocked.  My mother, who taught me everything about being a Jewish woman, was not counted as an adult in the religious practices of our congregation.  How could I participate in a religious ceremony to mark my Jewish adulthood when, as a woman, this adult status would never be recognized?  Jewish traditional religious practice brought me to feminist theory as a way to make meaning of the complexity of femaleness and religious Judaism. 

Jewish Feminist Theories and Praxis  

Jewish feminism represents a complex variety of religious and social movements that seek to transform patriarchal Judaism.  According to Judith Plaskow, “feminism is not about attaining equal rights for women in religious or social structures that remain unchanged, but about the thoroughgoing transformation of religious society” (1990, xvii).  This transformation entails the liberation of all people and the construction of a society that does not construe difference in terms of superiority and subordination (Plaskow 1990, xvii).   Jewish feminist theory begins from the premise that Jewish humanity has always included women and men.  This is not a simple assertion considering the utter absence of women in patriarchal Judaism.  Jewish feminist theory develops from a contradiction between Jewish scriptures that elide the historical and contemporary presence of women and lived experience that affirms the centrality of women’s membership in the Jewish community (Plaskow 1990, 28).  Jewish feminist action stems from the knowledge that women are agents of Jewish tradition.  In the last thirty years, Jewish women have created and transformed rituals to acknowledge the existence and experiences of women. 

Starting in the 1970’s, Jewish feminists began mobilizing on a national level creating theories to argue for women’s equality within religious Judaism.  In 1971, a group of religious Jewish women called Ezrat Nashim (help for women) began advocating for gender equity within Conservative Judaism.  The writings and actions of Ezrat Nashim represent the beginnings of Jewish feminist theory.  This theory refused to privilege either feminism or Judaism but, rather, merged both in hope of forging a more egalitarian Judaism.  In March of 1972, Ezrat Nashim “publicly called for changes in Jewish attitudes and laws regarding women” (Hyman 1976, 10). They presented their manifesto, Jewish Women Call for Change, to the Rabbinical Assembly at the Convention for Conservative Rabbis.  In this document, the women of Ezrat Nashim articulated early Jewish feminist theory:

Although the woman was extolled for her domestic achievements, and respected as the foundation of the Jewish family, she was never permitted an active role in the synagogue… These limitations on the life-patterns open to women, appropriate or even progressive for the rabbinical and medieval period, are entirely unacceptable for us today (1981, 895).

In this passage, Ezrat Nashim expressed their equal investment in challenging circumscribed gender roles while maintaining their Jewish identity.  In another section of their manifesto, members of Ezrat Nashim blended feminism and a commitment to Judaism, writing:

The social position and self-image of women have changed radically in recent years.  It is now universally accepted that women are equal to men in intellectual capacity, leadership, and spiritual depth…The educational institutions of the Conservative movement have helped women recognize their intellectual, social, and spiritual potential.  If the movement then denies women opportunities to demonstrate these capacities as adults, it will force them to turn from the synagogue, and to find fulfillment elsewhere (1981, 895-896).

The women of Ezrat Nashim did not want to leave their congregations; they were deeply committed to Conservative Judaism.  Rather, they wanted access to rituals that recognized their full spiritual potential and the opportunity to demonstrate their capacities as Jewish adults.  Ezrat Nashim argued women’s roles in the congregation threatened not halakhah (Jewish law), but outdated social traditions and male privilege.  By highlighting the false equation between tradition and male privilege, Ezrat Nashim called for a radial transformation of Judaism. 

Among the list of demands put forth in Jewish Women Call for Change, were those directly related to the bat mitzvah.  These demands included that “women be considered as bound to fulfill all mitzvot equally with men” and that “women be allowed full participation in religious observances” (Ezrat Nashim 1981, 896).  The women of Ezrat Nashim argued that although historically women and men had distinct roles within Judaism, current social understandings of gender necessitates a change in Jewish structure.  They buttressed their claim by proving they were not secular outsiders trying to disrupt traditional Judaism but rather that they themselves were the products of the Conservative movement’s educational institutions.  The women of Ezrat Nashim had attended the Jewish Theological Seminary, participated in Ramah camps, Leadership Training Fellowships, lived in Israel, and were pursuing Jewish Studies at the graduate level.  In sum they were the “best and brightest” female members of the Conservative movement (Lipstadt 2001, 293).  The threat that women would leave the Conservative movement unless changes towards equality were granted was powerful.  The momentum created by Ezrat Nashim had far reaching implications and would force the governing body of the Conservative movement to reconsider its position on women.

Ezrat Nashim initiated a national movement intent on bringing the energy and ideas of the feminist movements to Jewish tradition.  The theories of Ezrat Nashim spurred further Jewish feminist theories and praxis throughout the nation.  In 1973 and 1974, the two years following Ezrat Nashim’s call for change, the first national conferences on women in Judaism were held in New York.  Hundreds of women attended these conferences and formed the Jewish Feminist Organization.  Adding to this momentum was the ordination of the first female rabbi, Sally Preisland, by the Reform movement in 1972.  The publication of The Jewish Woman: New Perspectives (1976), and the founding of Lilith, a nationally distributed magazine with an explicitly Jewish feminist focus, brought these ideas to Jewish women around the country.  The circulation of Jewish feminist theories began to transform women’s religious participation.     

The status of women in Conservative congregations began to change as early as 1973.  A front-page article in the New York Times covered the Conservative movement Rabbinical Assembly’s decision to include women in the minyan or prayer quorum.  Granting women the right to the minyan created the possibility for equitable bat mitzvah ceremonies and ensured women life-long access to ritual participation.  Recognizing the importance of counting women in the prayer quorum, Ezrat Nashim specifically called for women’s inclusion in the minyan as part of a feminist transformation of Judaism.  Interestingly, Rabbi Siegel, who headed the fight for this resolution, attributed this landmark change to “rabbis and women representing the feminist movement” who had “participated in various discussions” (Spiegel 1973, 1).  Rabbi Siegel’s quote reveals an active dialogue between Jewish feminists and the governing body of the Conservative movement.  The success of the Jewish feminist movements in fostering new discourses on women’s roles in contemporary society were evident in Rabbi Siegel’s own choice of words when he said,  “the changing role of women in society now makes it advisable…to afford equality to women” (Spiegel 1973, 1).  Rabbi Siegel’s words echo the exact rallying point for the early Jewish feminists—full inclusion in religious Jewish life.

Jewish feminist theory of the early 1970’s initiated changes in religious Judaism through advocating women’s equality and challenging male-centered Judaism.  Commenting on the bat mitzvah as a future site for Jewish feminist praxis, Cherie Koller-Fox wrote, “if we want to move towards equality of women in the community, we must find occasions within the real life of the community to use as vehicles for education and growth.  To educate a young woman to take her place in such a society, we must find moments in which questions of Jewishness and womanhood intersect” (1976, 33).  She suggested that the bat mitzvah was one such opportunity.  “This is the one occasion in Jewish life in which the girl is asked to confirm her personal membership in the Jewish community and link her fate with theirs” (1976, 33).  Koller-Fox recognized that the bat mitzvah ceremony, minus Torah reading and participation in the Saturday service, was not being utilized to its full potential.  Prophetically, she wrote: “it is only a matter of time before the bat mitzvah will take place on Saturday morning and, tied directly to the reading of the Torah, will take on some of the awesomeness of the bar mitzvah” (Koller-Fox 1976, 33).  In order for the bat mitzvah to include Torah reading and become equitable, Jewish feminists first engaged and transformed the theological meanings of the bat mitzvah.

Transforming Meanings of the Bat Mitzvah

Jewish feminist theories have been instrumental in shifting religious Judaism—including the bat mitzvah—towards equitable ceremonial practice.  The bat mitzvah became a key site in Jewish feminist struggles because preparation for this ceremony is a central way youth learn about Jewish tradition and practice.  Women must have access to study religious Judaism in order to both challenge the absence of women and become full participants.  Historically, girls have not been encouraged or allowed to study for a public bat mitzvah ceremony.  It is important to point out that every Jewish adolescent becomes a bat or bar mitzvah when they turn twelve and thirteen respectively regardless of their participation in a public ceremony or Jewish education.  In Judaism, this age marks the time when parents are no longer legally responsible for their children.  Historically, if girls marked their bat mitzvah they did so with a special family dinner or party.

The bar mitzvah (literally son of the commandments) was originally intended for young Jewish men and has set the precedent for the format of the bat mitzvah.  However, it should be noted that there is no monolithic bar mitzvah ceremony and that bat mitzvah ceremonies do not simply imitate them.  Bar mitzvah ceremonies are celebrated publicly with the bar mitzvah boy leading the Friday night Shabbat service.  The following Saturday, he received his first aliyah (blessings before the Torah is read), read the Torah and haftorah portion (readings from the Prophets) for that week, and delivered a speech that interprets his Torah portion.  This particular version of the bar mitzvah ceremony establishes two markers of Jewish adulthood: leadership and obligation.  First, during the Friday night service the congregation recognized the bar mitzvah boy as a religious leader and gave him the opportunity to prove his competency in central Jewish prayers and rituals.  Second, during the Saturday morning service, the bar mitzvah boy fulfilled his first of many adult obligations when he read from the Torah.  This ceremonial practice grooms boys for a future of religious participation and leadership.  Thus, the bar mitzvah ceremony confers a level of respect as a religious leader to the bar mitzvah boy, and preparation for the ceremony insures that he will be able to participate in the services, read Hebrew, and understand the core Jewish texts.

Debates surrounding the practice of the bat mitzvah ceremony are rooted in interpretations of Jewish law and the application of these laws in the synagogue.  Religious Jews adhere to the 613 mitzvot or commandments present in the Torah.  These mitzvot are divided into positive (thou shall) and negative (thou shall not) precepts for living a religious Jewish life.  The positive mitzvot are further divided into time bound mitzvot, which must take place at designated times, such as lighting the Shabbat candles at sunset, and mitzvot that are not time bound.  Halakhah is the collection of legal writings, based on all the mitzvot.  Jewish law recognizes men and women as entirely separate entities.  As such, men are required to follow all 613 mitzvot, while women, whose primary role is to maintain the domestic sphere, are exempt from all the positive, time bound mitzvot.  Some of the mitzvot that women are exempt from form the basis of the bat mitzvah ceremony, including receiving an aliyot, reading from the Torah, and reciting certain prayers.  In addition to their exemption from mitzvot, women were also not counted in the minyan of ten adults necessary for a prayer quorum.  Varying interpretations of women’s non-obligated status have prompted debates about the meaning and Jewish legality of the bat mitzvah ceremony. 

In order for Jewish feminists to change ritual practice, they had to engage Jewish theology, specifically the concept of women’s “obligated status.”  Women’s exemption from certain mitzvot and from the minyan has, in practice, led to their prohibition from participating in Jewish religious life.  Even if women are not specifically prohibited from participating in the synagogue, men’s obligated participation is given primacy.  The bar mitzvah literally marks the age at which a boy becomes obligated to fulfill these 613 mitzvot or commandments of Judaism.  Philosophically and practically the bat mitzvah ceremony appears to be a contradiction.  How can a young woman, one who will never be obligated to fulfill positive time bound mitzvot, perform in a ceremony that marks this transition into obligated status?  During my interview with Rabbi Ariel Reinman, she reflected on the contradictory nature of this ceremony, “It is sort of a funny thing, I don’t even know if it should be called a bat mitzvah.  Because she is being counted as part of a ceremony that doesn’t count.  But she is counting herself as an active participant in Judaism” (interview 2002).  Rabbi Reinman’s response acknowledges the complexity of women’s roles within religious Judaism while also theorizing the possibility of women’s participation.  Jewish women rearticulated non-obligated status, theorizing de facto prohibition into a potential for participation.  By “counting” themselves as active participants in Judaism, Jewish women transform theory into praxis.  The strength of Jewish feminist theories lies in negotiating religious precepts and creating space to enact new types of feminist praxis based on the conviction that women are equal members of the religious Jewish community.  

Historical Development of the Bat Mitzvah

The bat mitzvah ceremony developed in two stages—first during the post World War II era and then after the emergence of the Jewish feminist movement.  In the former period, some version of the bat mitzvah ceremony was introduced into most Conservative congregations.  These early bat mitzvah ceremonies included helping with the Friday night services or an Oneg Shabbat (Shabbat reception).  The bat mitzvah did not typically receive an aliyot or read from the Torah.  Even if she did read from the Torah during her ceremony, as a woman, she would not continue to receive this honor during her life.  Bat mitzvah ceremonies held prior to the Jewish feminist movements may have been personally empowering for the celebrant.  However, without the structural changes to women’s inferior status within the synagogue prompted by organized Jewish feminist movements, these bat mitzvah ceremonies were not Jewish feminist praxis.  For example, Jewish historians, Paula Hyman and Regina Stein, found that the bat mitzvah was introduced in the postwar era for pragmatic reasons—to boost congregation membership—rather than to achieve gender equality (Hyman 1990 and Stein 2001).  In a summation of the initial stage of the bat mitzvah, Stein wrote:

In most synagogues, the bat mitzvah differed significantly from the bar mitzvah.  Even in those synagogues in which the girl was called to the Torah at the Saturday morning service, there was no assumption that, as with the bar mitzvah boy, this marked the first of many aliyot to the Torah.  For the bat mitzvah girl it was literally a once-in-a-lifetime event that signaled the end rather than the beginning of her inclusion in the synagogue service (2001, 226).

Introducing bat mitzvah ceremonies to boost congregation membership is not Jewish feminist praxis.  Neither is a bat mitzvah that marks “the end” of inclusion in synagogue services.  The historical accounts of the bat mitzvah explained by Hyman and Stein demonstrate that simply adding the bat mitzvah to the roster of Jewish ceremonials while leaving androcentricism unchallenged is not Jewish feminist praxis.  For a bat mitzvah to be feminist praxis the ceremony must advance women’s inclusion within Judaism and refute assumptions that women are anything less than full members of the Jewish community. 

The question, which lies outside the scope of either Hyman or Stein’s project, remains:  How did the bat mitzvah become a site of feminist praxis that reinforced women’s full religious access and participation?  Answering this question requires examining the local histories of the bat mitzvah during and after the Jewish Feminist movements of the 1970’s.  To fill in the history of the bat mitzvah, I studied this ceremony in four New Mexico congregations: Reform Congregation Beth Israel, Conservative Congregation B’nai Jacob and two Reconstructionist Congregations, Ner Shalom and Shir Hadash.  I also researched how Jewish feminist movements impacted New Mexico Jewish communities.  As the historical trajectory of the Jewish feminist movement intersected with the bat mitzvah, this ceremony not only became equitable, but also a site of young women’s empowerment within Judaism.

After the Second World War, bat mitzvah celebrants at Congregation Beth Israel and B’nai Jacob did not read from the Torah.  At issue for Conservative Congregation B’nai Jacob was the belief that men and women have different obligations in the congregation.  Women in this congregation celebrated their bat mitzvah on Friday night during the Shabbat service but not on Saturday morning when the Torah was read (Kaplan interview 2002).  In bar and bat mitzvah ceremony announcements in the local Jewish community newsletter, boy’s bar mitzvah ceremonies were held on Friday night and Saturday morning, while girl’s bat mitzvah ceremonies were only held on Friday night.  During this same time period, Reform Congregation Beth Israel held confirmation ceremonies in addition to bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies.   According to congregation bulletins, bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies were held on Friday night and did not include Torah reading.  Prior to the Jewish feminist movements, bat mitzvah ceremonies were celebrated in New Mexico.  However, neither congregation allowed bat mitzvah celebrants to read from the Torah.  Intentionally or not, these restrictions on women’s religious access stemmed from assumptions of women’s inferior status within the synagogue.  It would take national and local Jewish feminist movements to challenge women’s exclusion from full religious participation.  

The feminist movements of the 1970’s, made inroads into the New Mexico Jewish community.  There were numerous local events and public forums that allowed New Mexico Jews to explore and debate the relevance of feminism to religious Judaism.  These events not only introduced the New Mexico community to feminist theories but also created a context in which women’s religious practices could be reexamined. For example, as early as April 1972, one month after Ezrat Nashim presented their manifesto for change the local Jewish newspaper, The Albuquerque Jewish Community Link, advertised an event entitled, “The Different Faces of Eve,” which was billed as: “an awareness program about the feminist movement—where do you stand?” (Link 1972, 3).  During the 1970’s, nationally recognized Jewish feminists, Cynthia Orzick and Blu Greenberg, presented lectures to the New Mexico community.  Additional evidence of the impact of feminism was recorded in a column written by Charles Vogel, Executive Director of the Albuquerque Jewish Community Link.  In this column, Vogel reflected on attending an “interesting and exciting” speech by Betty Friedan on “The Struggle for Equality of Women’s Rights” (Link 1976, 4).  These examples represent a few of the Jewish feminist activities in New Mexico during the 1970’s. 

The awareness of Jewish feminism and U.S. feminist movements began to shift the practice of bat mitzvah ceremonies in New Mexico.  Raising the consciousness of the Jewish community about women’s desires to become full participants, who “count” in their congregations, is Jewish feminist theory in praxis.  Prior to the 1970’s neither Reform Congregation Beth Israel nor Conservative Congregation B’nai Jacob had equitable bat mitzvah ceremonies where the celebrant read from the Torah.  By the 1980’s both congregations had bat mitzvah ceremonies that took place on Friday night and included Torah reading on Saturday morning.  Deborah Kaplan, religious education director at B’nai Jacob, attributed the changes in the format of the bat mitzvah at her congregation to a “wave” moving through Conservative Judaism throughout the nation in which “women were being recognized as full members of the congregation”(interview 2002).  When asked if she remembered any opposition to women becoming more involved in religious rituals, Kaplan replied that there might have been a “couple of the old guard” that were against it.  She then added, “but once you become educated to it you accept it” (interview 2002).  Kaplan’s responses reveal the Jewish feminist movement’s accomplishment in altering community knowledge and practice.

Bat Mitzvah Jewish Feminist Praxis

            By the mid 1980’s, Jewish women were religiously active members of their congregations.  The question was no longer: can women participate? But rather: how do women want to participate in Jewish rituals?  Returning to Judith Plaskow’s definition, Jewish feminism is not simply about women obtaining equal access but also a thoroughgoing transformation of religious society with the ultimate goal of liberation for all people.  Writing about the feminist challenge to religious Judaism, Shulamit Magnus argued that feminism was not proving “to be a death-blow to Judaism or the affiliation of feminists, but rather an immense spur to creative adaptation” (1992, 333).  She explained, “The creation of ceremonials to mark passages in the lives of women is one of the most central, ongoing activities of feminist Judaism” (1992, 339).  Birth ceremonies for baby girls, Rosh Hodesh or new moon celebrations, and feminist Passover Seders are new Jewish ceremonies based on the experiences and lives of women.  These ceremonials, including the bat mitzvah, transform Judaism by including women as equal participants in the religious Jewish community.  Initially, Jewish feminist praxis centered on attaining religious equality.  As this became an increasing reality in the Reform and Conservative movement Jewish feminists began to shift their focus towards revising and inventing new ceremonial practices.      

In the early 1980’s two female religious leaders, Rabbi Sarah Green and Rabbi Ariel Reinman, moved to New Mexico and began serving the Jewish community.  Both of these rabbis, in addition to offering fully equitable bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies, instituted some additional changes to the format of these rituals that represent contemporary Jewish feminist theory in praxis.  Rabbi Green, spiritual leader of Reconstruction Congregation Ner Shalom, conducted a four-part bat mitzvah initiation exemplary of the potential to transform religious Jewish traditions to meet the needs of contemporary religious communities.  The bat mitzvah preparation at Congregation Ner Shalom is rigorous.  It requires learning more than twenty-five Hebrew songs, reading forty different prayers in Hebrew, chanting from the Torah, preparing a speech or some other kind of presentation, learning to play the beladi rhythm on the drum and a prayer in sign language (Green interview 2002).  Learning this much Judaica prior to the bat or bar mitzvah ensures that after the celebration young women and men at Congregation Ner Shalom will be able to continue being active participants in services. 

In addition to this scholastic preparation, the summer before their bat mitzvah, Congregation Ner Shalom girls go camping with Rabbi Green in mountains of New Mexico.  During this trip, each girl is given some time alone to reflect on her inner strength.  A camping trip and designated reflection time prior to the bat mitzvah ceremony is a unique adaptation of this ritual facilitated in part by the geography of New Mexico.  Another part of the Ner Shalom bat mitzvah is the initiation into Rosh Hodesh (a women’s holiday celebrated at the new moon).  Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb explains why this ceremony is crucial for young girls.

Initiating Jewish girls into the covenant of the New Moon around the time of their bat mitzvah and menses gives us an opportunity to pass on our women’s wisdom, to promote their self-esteem and their sense of dignity, which young women need from their communities to help them make good choices and give them the courage to protect, honor, and listen to their bodies…Rosh Hodesh celebrations can establish the caring circle that holds, protects, encourages, nurtures, and sends forth women into the world (1995, 146).

These adaptations to bat mitzvah preparation illustrate how Jewish feminism continues to influence Judaism after an initial campaign for equality in the synagogue.  Now that there are congregations based on religious equity and even explicitly feminist rabbis, the momentum of Jewish feminist praxis shifted towards empowering Jewish women and transforming Judaism into a religion that women and men shape.  Rabbi Green’s augmentations to the bat mitzvah ceremony provides young women with a voice and encourages their agency.  Bat mitzvah ceremonies at Ner Shalom parallel Shulamit Magnus’ conviction that feminism has reinvigorated Jewish ceremonies.

At both Congregation Shalom and Rabbi Reinman’s Congregation Shir Hadash, lavish bat mitzvah ceremonies are discouraged.  Instead, the congregations focus on the bat mitzvah’s connection to her family and community.  To solidify this connection, Rabbi Reinman started a tradition at her congregation in the early 1980’s she calls “passing the Torah down” (interview 2002).  During the bat mitzvah ceremony, just prior to the Torah reading, the Torah is literally handed to the eldest member of the family who then physically passes it to the next member and on down to the bat mitzvah.  This ritual is a tangible way of connecting the bat mitzvah with the Torah and the Jewish community.  A ritual in which the Torah is handed down to women symbolically includes women in the religious Jewish tradition. 

Speaking about what the bat mitzvah currently means in the Jewish community, Rabbi Green explained, “what it reflects is women wanting to take public leadership.  In our culture that includes public leadership in pursuit of knowledge” (interview 2002).  Adding to this Rabbi Reinman stated, “I think Judaism is important and I think for them [women] it has been a situation of saying I want to be counted” (interview 2002).  Crafting rituals where women can take “public leadership” and “be counted,” is Jewish feminist theory put into praxis.  Contemporary egalitarian bat mitzvah ceremonies are a direct result of the Jewish feminist movements that fought not only for women’s equal access but also ultimately for a transformation of Judaism.  Feminist bat mitzvah ceremonies have not eradicated the androcentricism of Judaism, but they have altered Judaism by recognizing young women as religious leaders and granting them the privileges and obligations of adult Jewish status.

Creating equitable bat mitzvah ceremonies, where a young woman’s Jewish adulthood is recognized, is an important component of Jewish feminist praxis.  Each congregation decided on and individual basis how and when to implement the bat mitzvah. However, both nationally and locally, congregations were influenced by Jewish feminist theorists.  At the heart of Jewish feminism is the conviction that women are central to Judaism and integral members of the Jewish community.  Jewish feminists, such as the women of Ezrat Nashim, insisted that traditional Judaism was not synonymous with male privilege and domination.  Ezrat Nashim’s theories of Jewish feminism created the possibility for women to be full religious participants.  Following the advent of national Jewish feminist movements and the dissemination of Jewish feminist ideas throughout the country, congregations in New Mexico changed their ritual practices allowing women equitable bat mitzvah ceremonies.  Building on the foundation of Jewish feminist theories, some Rabbis and Jewish educators in New Mexico created feminist bat mitzvah praxis that were not only equitable, but became a site for young women’s empowerment and agency within Judaism.  Future scholars must consider the intersecting history of the Jewish feminist movements and the bat mitzvah to fully capture the ways feminism shapes religious practices.

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