In a variety of programs throughout the United States, Jewish women are stepping up to the dais to honor Judith Kaplan, the girl who set a sweeping change in motion in 1922
Since at least the 14th century, boys have had bar mitzvah services, marking their entry into adulthood. But girls didn't have an equivalent rite of passage.
Rabbi Carole B. Balin, PhD is chair of the board of the Jewish Women’s Archive and professor emerita of history at Hebrew Union College
. She is writing a book on bat mitzvah.
Since girls in the U.S. began having the public ceremony 100 years ago, more and more women have taken on a larger role in Jewish life, including becoming rabbis.