It beats the persecution

[avram]

David Bernstein, of the Volokh Conspiracy, quotes from the April 26th issue of People Magazine (which isn’t online):

She’s got the deejay blasting Beyonce and a computerized light show. She has nearly 100 friends crammed into Manhattan’s ritzy Bryant Park Grill. She’s got the gift table groaning with Tiffany bags and guests greeting her dad at the door with “Mazel tov!” Everything is perfectly poised for 13-year-old Kimya to have a world- class bat mitzvah, except for one tiny detail:

Kimya isn’t Jewish.

Welcome to the strange new world of faux mitzvahs, where non-Jewish teens like Kimya Zahedi—whose parents are Iranian-born Muslims—and Taylor Lasley, African-American and Presbyterian, get to party like it’s 5764 (that’s 2004 on the Hebrew calendar). A centuries-old Jewish tradition, bar mitzvahs (for boys) and bat mitzvahs (for girls) mark the passage from childhood to adulthood with rituals like candlelighting and slicing braided bread called challah, as well as with elaborate and often expensive celebrations. Now more and more non-Jewish kids areinsisting on their own bar or bat mitzvah-style parties—without the religious rites and months of studious preparation—when they turn 13. “You see how you can have so much fun with so many people,” says Kimya, who attends one or two bar or bat mitzvahs every weekend in and around her wealthy neighborhood in Alpine, N.J.

Comments

[cattitude.livejournal.com]

Oy.

[acrobatty.livejournal.com]

FIrst time I've understood why many Native Americans got so pissy about Newage ceremonies. Oh well, we'll outlive this idiocy.

[bigscary.livejournal.com]

Good analogy.
Of course, Jews are chic just right now -- not only is there a hipster-backed pride movement (Heeb magazine), but some weird confluence of things has made us hip.

Expect a lot of cooption in coming years, if this persists. I'm currrently taking (nonvalued) bets on "Will this progress as far as tzitzit-as-fashion?".

[avram]

Wait and see how the anti-neocon backlash goes once Iraq gets so bad that even typical Americans can’t deny that the Bushies fucked up royally.

[wouldyoueva.livejournal.com]

My kid turns 13 at Worldcon. I need to go hide PEOPLE magazine from him.

[cheshyre]

I thought the goyishe equivalent to Bar/Bat Mitzvahs was the sweet sixteen party.

[(Anonymous)]

hi i am kimya zahedi. The girl who was mentioned in this article. I feel that within the article, I, and others were portrayed as "wannabees". Frankly, I have been having big, elaborate, parties since i was a toddler, and this party was the only one I've had outside of my home. That was actually the only difference. I don't feel that me having a party was in any way copying the jewish tradition, it was just having a party. I do not feel that throwing a party is a jewish tradition. It just so happens that this year was the same year that all of my jewish friends from school were becoming bat mitzvahs. I did not have a religeous service, which is the batmitvah, I just threw a party. Wow, does everyone have to make such a big deal!
KIMYA

[avram]

Hi, Kimya. You think this is a big deal? It’s just one magazine article, and two or three web discussions. This is nothing.

Anyway, I don’t think anyone thinks your wannabes. I think some Jews are a little upset (not me, I don’t much care; I posted that magazine quote because I thought it was funny) that their traditions are being used as party themes by people who haven’t grown up in those traditions. It makes them feel like something special to them is being used frivolously.

[redbird]

Hi, I'm another friend of Avram's.

Throwing a party isn't a Jewish tradition, it's a human thing. You're absolutely right about that.

The difference is that, for whatever reason, people weren't told "Kimya had a birthday party", they were told "Kimya had a bat mitzvah." That looked like you, or your parents, were taking something that is important to a lot of people and treating it frivolously.

"Faux" mitzvahs

[suecochran.livejournal.com]

I think that our Western Culture doesn't provide a decent rite of passage for our kids, and it's nice that non-Jewish kids are deciding to have big parties for themselves when they become teenagers. It's better than ritual circumcision or killing an animal as a sacrifice. I'm culturally Jewish but have no affiliation with any religion, and I hope that my son decides to have one of these big parties when he turns 13. Hey, any excuse for a party, especially one where he could potentially have all of his friends and family to celebrate this important age milestone. I can see why some Jews would feel offended though.