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Late-Life Bat Mitzvahs

They missed out on girlhood bat mitzvahs, but eight decades later these Ohio women marked their Jewish rite of passage.

by: Tonya Vinas, from: AARP The Magazine, July 2009

The event would be nerve-racking for them—appearing before nearly 300 friends and family members, reading aloud ancient Hebrew psalms, waxing wise about why it all mattered in their lives. But when ten Ohio women ages 89 through 96 flawlessly finished their bat mitzvahs—experiencing together the coming-of-age ritual they were never allowed to have as girls—there was dancing in the synagogue aisles. … Back to Article

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