Bat Mitzvah Ritual Visit

For my ritual visit I went to a family friends Bat Mitzvah at the Temple Emanuel here in Greensboro North Carolina. A Bat Mitzvah is a Jewish tradition that identifies a girl who is twelve years old to be an adult and must become responsible for ones own actions, which is a very important ritual within the Jewish community. Judaism commonly uses the Hebrew language and Bat translates to, “Jewish coming of age ceremony for girls” (Bat Mitzvah Translation). Within the Temple of Emanuel the men had to wear yarmulkes and both men and women wear shawls and the family members sat on the right side and her friends sat on the left side. The service began with a song and then the Rabbi said Shalom, which means hello or welcome. After that a tallit, which is a prayer shawl is presented to the person whose bat mitzvah by her parents. The family is allowed to cite along with the Bat Mitzvah from the Torah and then the bat Mitzvah walks down the sides of the aisle and makes her way around the congregation and is followed by her parents and the clergy. After that the Torah is passed down from generation to generation by the Rabbi and after that the Bat Mitzvah reads parts from the Torah. …show more content…
The first three sections are read or chanted by those who are important to the person who is having the bat mitzvah. The last aliyot is chanted by the bat mitzvah herself, which contains blessings from the Torah. After the final reading the family came back up to the stage and put the sleeve back on the Torah. When the Torah was placed back the parents congratulated her on her achievements in becoming an adult. After the service was over the Rabbi and the bat mitzvah blessed the wine and challah bread and passed the bread and wine around to the family members and friends. This concluded the service and once we were all outside everyone congratulated