My batmitzvah album from New York in 1959 featured lots of chubby girls in pink or purple lacey dresses with elaborate overdone hairstyles. Our attempts to use grownup make-up appeared to be smudgy lipstick ending somewhere around where the thick eye shadow began. Photos featured torturous ‘slows’ with old Uncle Jake and lots of gyrating bodies with hula-hoops, and making faces at the boys.  All around New York, California, Chicago, Boston … anywhere that American Jews could find a synagogue with a ballroom, a caterer and a photographer … off we went to eat, drink, dance and make fools of ourselves in front of the cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and sundry guests who were invited to our batmitzvahs.

So the batmitzvah celebration in March 2012 for the young pupils from ESRA’s Students Build a Neighborhood projects in Kiryat Nordau and Hefzibah, Netanya, was light-years away in feel and content from my own batmitzvah memories.     

The 15 girls and their mothers were invited to join us at the Bnei Akiva premises in Kiryat Nordau. Not exactly the ballroom of my memories, but “'tis enough, ‘twill serve” for an evening of activities, food, dancing and fun. The young ladies of the Education Unit and National Service joined the lady students of the ESRA projects in providing educational activities for the batmitzvah girls and their mothers and guests. (Note: not even one “Uncle Jake” was around to step on their delicate 12-year old toes.)

 Jewish awareness, mitzvoth and knowledge of the meaning of ‘coming of age’ was on the agenda (instead of screams of jealousy about whose dress was prettier, more elaborate or more expensive). A trivia quiz of questions and answers on the mitzvoth replaced the too-long speeches by every one of my aunties. The scrubbing and polishing by the batmitzvah girls of their own Shabbat candleholders replaced the mile-high pile of gift wrapped presents that I had so eagerly yearned to open, (let’s face it, wasn’t that the real purpose of the whole shebang?)

A hands-on lesson in how to prepare challah for Shabbat, (this instead of ‘sweetbreads” and a sit- down four course feast followed by a midnight snack of franks, Chinese food, ice cream and who remembers what else !)  Beautiful posters of batmitzvah greetings were drawn and pasted for each celebrant. I guess that replaced the envelopes with sentimental cards and checks inside.

 Afterwards, pasta and soft drinks were followed by folk dancing that helped us to top off the fun evening (without even one hula-hoop - who would have thought that possible?)

The evening was made possible thanks to Asher Reimer, in honor of Rabbi Dov Sidelsky, Julian and Merle Myers and Jan Gaines. Many thanks too, to the donors of the food, Boaz Tanami, and the donors of the siddurim, Baruch and Ilana Banai, and, of course, to Alice Marks and Jacki Edry for making the lovely evening a wonderful success.