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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