Dear Tal, Late in the year 2000, the Western approaches to Sydney have been
largely jammed by Olympic Games people: athletes, guests and hangers-on. Your
grandmother Tony and I are happy to have been able to travel on that route, in
order to be present at your Bat-Mitzvah.
To celebrate this day under the auspices of Avner and Dalia, your parents -- and, at your father's invitation, to be the first speaker and well-wisher on this occasion --is a great privilege.
During the week we spent with you in London just over a month ago, we have been impressed by your intelligence and poise, by your good looks, your elegance and your friendly nature - a combination which has made us love you dearly and which, I hope, will help you along to a happy future.
When I was a youngster, the notion of Bat-Mitzvah was unknown. Bat-Mitzvah is an innovation which, along with other ideas and symptoms of the time, has reformed the status of women amongst us. Women have in fact always played a considerable role in Jewish life - as mothers and wives, as mothers-in-law and as grandmothers - but formally their only duties were to bless the candles on Shabbat, to fast on Yom-Kippur and listen to the story of Ester and Haman on Purim.
To stress this point, here are the stages of an exclusively male curriculum, outlined in Pirkei Avot. It has no feminine equivalent at all.
Well then, at the age of five: study the Mikra, at the age of ten: the Mishna; at the age of 13: assume Mitzvot, i.e. the duties and standing of grown-ups; at 15: study Gemara; at 18: be married; at 2O: "Lirdof", i.e. pursue the material aims of life; at 30: be strong; at 40: be wise - etc., etc., etc., -- until the age of 100 (I'll not go into details).
On the whole, the feminine role in a modern Jewish setting, just as in a non-Jewish environment, has undergone important changes in the last few decades. Women have assumed many of the occupations, responsibilities and privileges previously monopolized by men. Moreover, women have shared in the creation of novel tasks - for instance in the field of high tech.
In Judaism, so far, the feminine role has not developed everywhere to the point that to become Bat-Mitzvah is an event in a girl's life. This is a thousand pities, because, if that state of affairs is perpetuated, the Jewish heritage will be split, as unfortunately it is in Israel at present. Therefore you, Tal, as well as Yochi and your friends, may count yourselves lucky to be associated, as Dalia your mother is, with the Mount Sinai and Moria network.
Good luck to you, and all our love!
Sydney, 19 November 2000