B Mitzvah, Reconstructed: Judaism Unbound Episode 376 - Lauren Grabelle Herrmann
Lauren Grabelle Herrmann, rabbi at SAJ: Judaism that Stands for All — the synagogue where the first-ever Bat Mitzvah took place in 1922 — joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about re-visioning B Mitzvah for the next 100 years. This episode is the 2nd in an ongoing mini-series of Judaism Unbound episodes, honoring Bat Mitzvah's 100th anniversary, and exploring the present and future of B Mitzvah ("B Mitzvah" is a term for Jewish coming-of-age ceremonies, across the gender spectrum).
[1] For the previous episode in this series, see Episode 375: Bat Mitzvah’s 100th Birthday - Carole Balin, Judith Rosenbaum. And stay tuned for many more conversations to come in the next couple months!
[2] Take a look at Lauren Grabelle Herrmann’s liturgical blessings, honoring the 100th anniversary of Bat Mitzvah, via this link. Learn more about her by clicking here.
[3] Explore SAJ: Judaism that Stands for All (the congregation formerly known as the Society for the Advancement of Judaism) via SAJ.nyc!
[4] Grabelle Herrmann explores a little-explored piece of the Exodus narrative: the fact that women thought to bring, in their quick packing as they rushed out of Egypt, drums for celebrating! For a full written piece of hers on this, see “Bringing our Timbrels, Singing as One: A Response to THIS moment.”
[5] For more on the question What is Reconstructionist Judaism?, see this piece, entitled “Reconstrucism Explained.”
[6] Grabelle Herrmann mentions that Mordecai Kaplan once sought the elimination of the text of Kol Nidrei, a well-known declaration uttered on Yom Kippur. For more on this, see “Tough to put the Kibosh on Kol Nidre,” a 2011 article by Jenna Weissman.
[7] Lex mentions that the Talmud says Betzalel, one of the two main architects of the tabernacle, was 13 years-old when charged with that responsibility. For the Talmud text that says this, see Sanhedrin 69b.
