Bat Mitzvah (1921, 1949); Kosher (1620); Mellah

[Alice Faber]

James A. Landau wrote:
>In a message dated 06/10/2002 2:08:07 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
>Bapopik at AOL.COM writes:
>
> > BAT MITZVAH
> >
> >     OED has 1950.  Perhaps the online New York Times has something.
> >     A Google search shows that the first Bat Mitzvah was of Judith Kaplan,
> >  daughter of Reconstructionist leader Mordechai Kaplan, in 1921.  Judith
> >  Kaplan Eisenstein died in 1995.
>
>Back in 1998 I chased down Judith Kaplan's bat mitzvah.  While she has been
>cited in numerous books, not to mention Web sites, I was unable to determine
>the date of her bat mitzvah.  Most written sources I have seen give 1922, as
>do the majority of the Web sites I found on a Google search.  I have even
>found two specific dates for the event, one in March 1922 and one in May
>1922.

My aunt claims to have attended this bat mitzvah (unless I'm hallucinating
a conversation). She's certainly old enough (91 this month) that it's
possible. I don't know if they were the same age. I'll give her a call over
the weekend (much belated...)

--
 =============================================================================
Alice Faber                                             faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                                  tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
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