A Belfer Bar Mitzvah
By Gloria Teles Pushker
Illustrated by: Judith Hierstein
8.5"x11" (29 Pages)Ages 8-11, 12+ Publisher: Pelican, 1995
Part of the "Toby Belfer" series.
Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah both mark the age when adult reason and responsibility begin. In this third book about her, Toby Belfer, a Jewish girl growing up in rural Louisiana, learns about the Bar Mitzvah ceremony through her older cousin, Paul. Beginning with Toby's invitation to Paul's Bar Mitzvah and ending with the cutting of the challah and the traditional dance called the horah, the reader is led through the experience of this ancient ceremony. Now Toby is better prepared to begin her own studies for her Bat Mitzvah, changing perhaps only one thing -- pink instead of green balloons!
In this charming tale, as in the other Belfer stories, author Gloria Teles Pushker gives the appropriate Jewish terms and follows them with definitions so that Jews and non-Jews alike can gain a greater understanding of the traditions and rituals that make up the Jewish faith.