Adrianna Keller Wyman
June 15, 2013
My dad wasn’t bar mitzvahed because he was given a choice and he chose not to; his mom, my abuelita, didn’t because it wasn’t done in her community for girls. My mom, her parents, and my dad’s dad didn’t have bar or bat mitzvahs because they weren’t Jewish. My dad had a few friends who were bar or bat mitzvahed, as well as his sisters. My step mom and her mom were not bat mitzvahed but her dad had a bar mitzvah.
My dad is glad about me having a bat mitzvah because he gets to work with me and he feels it is a way to belong to our community. My parents want me to have a bat mitzvah because my dad is living through his children. Also, they’re happy I’ve been learning about my family’s history.
My dad likes that I am growing up. As I grow up I am getting more responsibility. My dad teaches me what it’s like to work a minimum wage job (cleaning the house). As I grow up I’ll be making more of my own choices and getting more responsibility.
I have attended a few bat mitzvahs of people from our congregation, and one in a reform congregation. During the more traditional bat mitzvah, the girl read from the Torah in Hebrew and talked a little bit in English about it. At the bar/bat mitzvahs of people from our congregation, they all presented their major projects in English, which is what I’ve done. I think it’s kind of neat that there are different ways people do it.
I like that many cultures have different celebrations for people becoming young adults, and I like that I am having one too. I found it interesting learning more things about my family. I liked learning more about the Holocaust and what my family went through.
I want to thank my Mentor, Jane Bottner, my parents, Aram, Isabel, and Rabbi Peter for all their help in this process. I would also like to thank my family, especially those who came from far away, who helped make today possible.
