Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site linus.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!sb From: sb@linus.UUCP (Shimshon Berkovits) Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish Subject: Re: Question about Bat-Mitzvah Message-ID: <772@linus.UUCP> Date: Mon, 27-Feb-84 11:30:28 EST Article-I.D.: linus.772 Posted: Mon Feb 27 11:30:28 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 28-Feb-84 01:02:52 EST References: <257@whuxle.UUCP> Organization: MITRE Corp., Bedford MA Lines: 14 It depends with whom you speak in the US. The Orthodox law says a girl becomes responsible for her own religious acts at age twelve while for a boy the age is thirteen. The difference, I believe, has its origin in a recognition of the differing rates of maturing exhibited by the male and by the female of the species. That some Conservative and all Reform girls celebrate at thirteen, I presume, derives from a move to be just like the boys. In this, as in many other things, the move to absolute equality obliterates Judaism's long-standing recognition of a certain superiority of the female over the male. If the group is looking for a subject for discussion, Judaism's attitude toward women should be a wire-burner. Shim