The Complete Bar/Bat Mitzvah Book: Everything You Need to Plan a Meaningful Celebration

A practical and friendly guide for students and parents-a guide that helps readers plan a meaningful celebration- both in the service and the reception. Incorporating the experiences and rituals of families from all traditions, and based on the experiences of rabbis, parents, and children, the book offers helpful suggestions for:

* Long-term preparation and short-term goals.
* Elevating the spiritual meaning of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah.
* The "nuts and bolts" of planning the celebration.
* Adult Bar/Bat Mitzvahs.
* Jewish life afterward.

Readers will find descriptions of typical services for both boys and girls, various alternatives, and the meaning behind the rituals. There are many suggestions throughout to make the Bar/Bat Mitzvah service more personalized and more meaningful.

Moskovitz seems more concerned with the practical aspects of the traditional Jewish coming-of-age ceremony and the party that often follows than Jeffrey Salkin was in Putting God on the Guest List (1992). Yet she balances practical suggestions with others for spiritual enrichment that will make the celebration much more than a glorified thirteenth birthday party. Explaining terms likely to be encountered during preparation, and integrating background on religious traditions that lead to the ceremony, she takes parents through everything from selecting a date to the responsibilities of the celebrant and of the family. Transliterations of traditional prayers and first-person comments from parents and youngsters appear throughout, adding vigor and a sense of the occasion's joy and deeper meaning. Moskovitz provides plenty of ideas for the follow-up party as well as a helpful, long-range planning time table. Appendixes of further resources and a glossary round out a book that will help adults smooth the way for a life-affirming, life-changing event connecting a child to family, community, and heritage. Stephanie Zvirin