LAUSR

As is the tradition for Jewish boys, my sons had barmitzvahs when they turned 13. They underwent this rite of passage, which has happened in some form for around 700 years. In preparation, my sons learned to read the Hebrew language, learned passages from the Torah and its commentary and attended weekly classes and Saturday services to learn about traditions and practices. On their big days in front of family, friends and the broader community in the synagogue, they recited the week’s Torah reading, participated in the service and explained their views on the readings’ relevance to society. My first son related what he read to his childhood in Alice Springs and his early observations of social disparity. In the evening, we had a party and they gave less formal speeches. A coming of age ceremony in early adolescence is far from unique to Judaism, with around half of the world’s ethnographically recorded societies in 1980 having ceremonies meeting a strict definition for initiation at this life point. In some cultures without formal ceremonies, there is a trend now to construct such events, filling a gap some feel to be missing in secular communities. For such practices to be so widespread, they must have some benefit. This paper briefly describes benefits to culture and community, individual and parents.