Observers of the Jewish educational landscape will be familiar with the presumption that the contemporary moment demands that the Jewish student be treated as a prosumer—a producer as well as a consumer—of educational experiences. Evaluation studies and market research reports encourage Jewish educators to offer niche and highly customizable experiences to attract an iPhone-using, vanilla soy latte-drinking, millennial generation (see Bennett, Potts, Levin, Abramson, & Greenberg, 2006). As Jon Woocher memorably advocated in this journal, the “paradigm shift” of the 21st-century Jewish educator should be towards that of a co-creator of unique educational experiences chosen and co-designed by the student (Woocher, 2012). In such a landscape, what place may remain for the bar/bat mitzvah? Beloved and derided in equal measure, it cuts across denominations (the varied attitudes of the Orthodox world vis-à-vis batmitzvah notwithstanding), and has entered the non-Jewish world through iconic representation—as well as spoof—in film, television, and literature. The chagrin of many a teenager, and the carrot dangled in front of the stick of synagogue membership dues, the bar mitzvah is perhaps the most iconic Jewish educational experience—a rite of passage shared across denominations and levels of Jewish identification. The ubiquity of the ritual is not matched by the volume of research; thus, two recent volumes are a welcome addition: Michael Hilton’s BarMitzvah: A History, and Patricia KeerMunro’s Coming of Age in Jewish America: Bar and Bat Mitzvah Reinterpreted, published in 2014 and 2016 respectively. Both volumes paint a picture of the bar mitzvah as a ritual that is, and always has been, molded in response to the needs of its varied prosumers. Michael Hilton sets out to answer the question of precisely when, where, and how bar mitzvah became a child-centered ceremony: from a blessing recited by a father freeing him from filial responsibility for the sins of his son, to a ritual in which the son, rather than the father, reached an educational and coming-of-age milestone. His study is supported by significant archival research, primarily in collections located in the United Kingdom. The first three of his eight chapters focus on the premodern context, from rabbinic literature to historical sources that indicate stages in the development and eventual spread and regulation of bar mitzvah in premodern Europe. Subsequent chapters trace the beginning of confirmation ceremonies and of bat mitzvah as a parallel ritual for girls, and discuss current issues and trends. A final chapter helpfully summarizes the evidence assessed across the scope of the book. Hilton wants his readers to understand that although bar mitzvah might seem part of the “form and fabric” of Jewish life and practice, its roots are not ancient, “stretching back 750 years, not 2,000 years”

中文翻译：

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Bar Mitzvah：犹太美国时代的历史：重新诠释Bar和Bat Mitzvah

犹太教育景观的观察者会熟悉这样一种假设，即当代要求将犹太学生视为教育体验的生产者——生产者和消费者。评估研究和市场研究报告鼓励犹太教育工作者提供利基和高度可定制的体验，以吸引使用 iPhone、喝香草大豆拿铁的千禧一代（参见 Bennett、Potts、Levin、Abramson 和 Greenberg，2006 年）。正如 Jon Woocher 在本期刊中令人难忘地倡导的那样，21 世纪犹太教育家的“范式转变”应该是由学生选择和共同设计的独特教育体验的共同创造者（Woocher，2012）。在这样的景观中，酒吧/蝙蝠成人礼可以留下什么地方？受到同等程度的爱戴和嘲笑，它跨越了教派（尽管东正教世界对 batmitzvah 的态度各不相同），并通过电影、电视和文学中的标志性表现（以及恶搞）进入了非犹太世界。许多青少年的懊恼，以及在犹太教堂会费的棍子前晃来晃去的胡萝卜，成人礼可能是最具标志性的犹太教育体验——一种跨越不同教派和犹太身份认同水平的成人仪式。仪式的普遍性与研究的数量不匹配；因此，最近的两卷是受欢迎的补充：迈克尔·希尔顿 (Michael Hilton) 的《成人礼：一段历史》和帕特里夏·克尔芒罗 (Patricia KeerMunro) 的《犹太美国的成年：重新诠释的酒吧和蝙蝠成人礼》，分别于 2014 年和 2016 年出版。两卷都描绘了成人礼作为一种仪式的画面，并且一直是根据其不同的专业消费者的需求而塑造的。迈克尔·希尔顿 (Michael Hilton) 着手回答有关成人礼在何时、何地以及如何成为以儿童为中心的仪式的问题：从父亲背诵的祝福，使他免于对儿子的罪过的孝道，到儿子，而不是父亲，达到了教育和成年的里程碑。他的研究得到了重要档案研究的支持，主要是在英国的收藏中。他的八章中的前三章侧重于前现代背景，从拉比文学到历史资料，这些历史资料表明了前现代欧洲成人礼的发展阶段以及最终传播和监管。随后的章节追溯了确认仪式和作为女孩平行仪式的蝙蝠成人礼的开始，并讨论了当前的问题和趋势。最后一章对本书范围内评估的证据进行了有益的总结。希尔顿希望他的读者明白，虽然戒律似乎是犹太人生活和实践的“形式和结构”的一部分，但它的根源并不古老，“可以追溯到 750 年，而不是 2000 年”