Personal Experience: My Bat Mitzvah

As a person matures and find a suitable partner; for the most part, they may desire to have a family. As we all may know, parenting is a tremendous subculture that many people are involved in today. I am a member of the parenting subculture. As my children grew up some of the things my subculture required me to do were changing diapers, feeding them a bottle, teaching them how to walk, and how to talk. Some of the values that I instill in my children are but not limited to: not to lie, honor your parents, do the best you can do in school, love your family, and honor the word of God. Some of the social rules of parenting are: not to abuse your children, feed them, make sure they have an education, provide a home for them, and teaching

Sitting in a comfortable leather chair on a cloudy January day, I sat in a house and interviewed Susan Gustavson, a life long Jew that is in her mid-fifties. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Columbia University, where she got an MBA in marketing. She told me about her opinions on the Judaism.

Rebecca Samuel’s letters provide interesting insight into what is was like to be a Jewish American woman in the emerging United States. Her letters provide some evidence to struggles many Jews faced trying to observe their religion, as well as the tension of merging American practices with Jewish identity.

Throughout the 1800’s to the mid-1900’s one problem restricted and threatened the Jewish race. Through trials, battles, immigration, and more the jews couldn’t catch a break. They were a despised people suffering due to an inability of the Jewish people to fully assimilate into other societies. This issue highlighted the political and cultural atmosphere and events throughout the time periods we studied. From beneath all the destruction and chaos occurring during this time period lies an important message.

Having the privilege to serve in the military has allowed this writer the opportunity to be exposed to the pluralistic society in a way which has exposed him to the beauty of the diversity enjoyed in American culture. One aspect of said diversity is the interaction which has taken place amongst the Christian and various world religions who also wear the same uniform in defense of America. It was the pleasure of the writer to attend a local synagogue in which his Jewish brothers and sisters welcomed him with open arms. The local congregation of Jewish believers went out of their way in order to ensure their newest visitor understood the flow of service and the significance of the ritual which took place on the first Shabbat or Sabbath of the month. The following essay will serve to detail the worship experience as well as how it and other beliefs of Judaism compare/contrast with the Christian faith.

The purpose of this research paper will be to examine how Judaism rituals have helped the religion remained amongst the most prominent in the world. The use of tradition and rituals has been at the very core of its existence. Birth, adolescent, marriage and death rituals will be used to highlight how the Judaism way of life is not dependent on the written word but rather the actions of those who follow this historic Hebrew religion. The paper will begin with a brief outline of Judaism and its relationship with God and then continue with how the written word of the Torah has laid the basis for the many traditions still practiced in Judaism.

Throughout the history of Judaism, Jewish people have faced ongoing persecution and discrimination. Despite these conflicts, the faith remains alive, strong, and continuously growing. Like many religions faced with adversity, Judaism has had to assimilate its faith to survive in an ever-changing world. One significant moment of change in the Jewish history, the fall of the Second Temple, had the opportunity to destroy Judaism, but the Jewish people bonded together and reformulated their religion in order to save their faith. The falling of the Second Temple marks a distinct change in the Jewish faith through the modification of ritual practices to accommodate their new mobile lifestyle. This change would forever impact the Jewish

After the service, I was able to ask Arielle some questions pertaining to the service and Judaism in general. First, I asked about the differences between Orthodox and Reform Judaism. Arielle explained that Orthodox Judaism is the most strictly traditional of the three main branches, which are Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Judaism. Orthodox Jews maintain that the Torah is the direct word of God, thus they uphold the commandments in it as God’s commandments, and deem that unquestionable. Rabbinic writings help humans define God’s laws as just as important, since they are explaining what God says in commandments, and are therefore the word of God. Orthodox Jews also believe that the Torah was given from God to Moses, who then gave it to humanity. Also, Orthodox Jews observe the Sabbath and other holidays by refraining from the kinds of work specified in the Torah. In addition, Orthodox Jews are strictly Kosher, men and women are seated separately, and men and women have separate

My parents, my father specifically, believed that children should obey their elders without question and without hesitation. This outlook on parenting stems from their cultural background as Vietnamese immigrants. In my culture, family is structured

A lot of children grow up without a parent in my case I didn’t really have either. When I was fifteen years old my mom and I were in a different place than where we are now. At the time she was working two jobs and was always gone. My sisters and I took care of ourselves. We learned how to be very independent, self-efficient, and responsible. There was this specific situation when she was dating this guy, and she gave my sisters and I a choice to either move in with her boyfriend and her or live on our own. My older sister and I decided to leave and live elsewhere. In this specific situation my actions disobeyed authority, but didn’t go against my own morals because I did it for all the right reasons for myself at the time.

In various cultures, heavy importance is placed on the transition from child to adult. A young person’s coming of age and the ceremonies which may follow can embody a highly important, enlightening, and maybe even confusing period of time for the person undertaking these rites of passage. This type of coming of age ceremony holds a very high importance to the followers of Judaism as it signifies the transition of a young boy into a young man, or a young girl into a young woman, it is known as a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, which means “son of commandment” or “daughter of commandment”, and thus the person undergoing the ceremony is known as the Bar/Bat Mitzvah. As is hebrew custom, the age of

Over thousands of years, the religion of Judaism has evolved. With years of suffering, persecution, and dispersion the Jews’ religion stays constant. When researching the religion, the history is extremely strong, and the doctrine of the religion dates back thousands of years. With such a vast history, one might want to examine the change into modern society.

The religion I decided to do this interview on is Judaism. I have always been interested in this religion and was ready to learn more.

Have you ever noticed that when people talk of Jews, at least in a protestant church, that the Israelite legalism, rituals, dress and hair standards are the first things to mind? The topic of Judaism may come with stereotypical opinions and “Christian Judgement” that are without merit or understanding. Judaism, by a Christian worldview, had to change after Pentecost, since the animal sacrifice to atone for sin Christ completed on the Cross. However, Judaism does not accept this truth of Christ and His work on the cross, but Judaism remains in the world. So, what was this change in Judaism and when did it take place? There have been numerous fluctuations within Judaism, only the theme constructed in this essay has its foundations around the most important facet of Judaism- the Temple. With the Temple in the forefront of this essay, we will discuss the modifications that Judaism went through, at what time, different perspectives that the destruction of the Temple had, and how the Christian sect views these vagaries. The Temple destruction of A.D. 70 converted the Jewish faith in its singular fashion, while, at the same point, the Jewish faith never had a total change by always changing throughout time.

The first thing that was necessary to having a successful religion was figures to lead the way. For Jews, these began as “Judges”, or leaders that took charge during difficult times. These judges eventually became kings, and for 3 generations, King Saul, David, and Solomon were the top figures of Judaism. For