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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/37727/full/37727/ten-women-all-ages-89-and-over-celebrate-a-joint-bnai-mitzvah/ <br /><br /> <b>Ten women — all ages 89 and over — celebrate a joint b’nai mitzvah</b> <br /> Wednesday, April 8, 2009 | by arlene fine <br /><br /><p>When Sarah gave birth to Isaac at age 90, it was a miracle. When 10 women, all but one over 90, had a joint b’nai mitzvah in Beachwood, Ohio, it was a blessing.</p> <p>And when CBS decided to cover the celebration and then the New York Times wrote about it, it became national news.</p> <p>On March 22, 10 residents of an independent living facility in suburban Cleveland entered the Menorah Park synagogue and proved they are not getting older — they are getting better.</p> <p>Their b’nai mitzvah, later featured as a segment on the “CBS Evening News” with Katie Couric, was the culmination of six months of weekly Torah study with Menorah Park’s Rabbi Howard Kutner.</p> <p>“This group is unique and probably the oldest bat mitzvah group in the country,” explained Kutner. “I am extremely proud of each one of them. They have taken this challenge and worked diligently to accomplish their goals.”</p> <p> <div class="capDivLeft" style="width: 360px;"><img alt="SR90s bat mitzvah1" class="left" height="337" src="http://dev.jweekly.com/images/uploads/z_photos_2009/zj_04_10_09/SR90s bat mitzvah1.jpg" title="During a rehearsal before their joint b’nai mitzvah, Rabbi Howard Kutner talks to a group of seniors ages 89 to 96. photos/courtesy of cleveland jewish news" width="360" /> <div class="caption">During a rehearsal before their joint b’nai mitzvah, Rabbi Howard Kutner talks to a group of seniors ages 89 to 96. photos/courtesy of cleveland jewish news</div> </div> The woman are residents of Wiggins Place, which is an independent living facility on the campus of Menorah Park Center for Senior Living. The youngest, Mintsy Agin, will turn 90 in July and the oldest, Molly Kravitz, will celebrate her 97th birthday in August. At a dress rehearsal for the ceremony, three of the women used walkers and another carried a small oxygen tank.</p> <p>The women read selected prayers from the Shachrit (morning) service. To determine each person’s Torah portion, Kutner converted her individual birthdate to corresponding years and dates on the Hebrew calendar. This allowed him to zero in on the exact passage each would have read when reaching the age of 12. The women also gave a brief d’var Torah (Torah lesson) about their respective Torah portions.</p> <p>The service was more than a ceremony; for many it was a joyful family reunion.</p> <p>“I expect to have family from Baltimore, New York and California fly in to help me celebrate,” Evelyn Bonder, a 90-year-old Cleveland native, said before the ceremony. “When Rabbi Kutner presented the idea of this rite of passage, it was an idea whose time had come. Being a lifelong feminist, this is a dream come true.”   </p> <p> <div class="capDivLeft" style="width: 360px;"><img alt="SR90s bat mitzvah2" class="left" height="241" src="http://dev.jweekly.com/images/uploads/z_photos_2009/zj_04_10_09/SR90s bat mitzvah2.jpg" title="During a rehearsal before their joint b’nai mitzvah, Rabbi Howard Kutner talks to a group of seniors ages 89 to 96. photos/courtesy of cleveland jewish news" width="360" /> <div class="caption">During a rehearsal before their joint b’nai mitzvah, Rabbi Howard Kutner talks to a group of seniors ages 89 to 96. photos/courtesy of cleveland jewish news</div> </div> Bonder, who worked for late Sen. Howard Metzenbaum (her high school classmate) in Washington and later in Cleveland, said the liberal politician “most certainly would have approved” of her ceremony.</p> <p>In her d’var Torah, Bonder talked about the year 1930, when she would have been a 12-year-old bat mitzvah girl, addressing “how far women have come since that time.”</p> <p>Rosenberg said that when Rabbi Kutner offered her the opportunity to be a bat mitzah, “I didn’t think twice. I’m always up for the next challenge.”</p> <p>Kutner did not have to worry about Agin’s Hebrew skills. She taught Hebrew at the Conservative B’nai Jeshurun Congregation for 37 years.</p> <p>“I know exactly what I have to do,” she said before the service. Her daughter Susan, now 51, was one of the first girls to be a bat mitzvah at Temple on the Heights (now B’nai Jeshurun). Because she was a girl, her service was on Friday night, and she was allowed to  read only a Haftorah portion. “I’m glad times have changed for women in religious life today,” she said.</p> <p>Eva Rosenberg, a retired school teacher, was delighted that at 92 she was still around to experience this rite of passage. “If you live long enough, anything can happen,” she said with a laugh. “My father was a Zionist, and my husband came from an Orthodox background. I know they would have both been pleased to know that I reached this day.”</p> <p>Rosenberg worked hard to keep her d’var Torah to just two minutes. “With 10 of us in the service, I want to keep things moving,” she said.</p> <p>Several hundred people attended the service followed by a reception at Wiggins Place.</p> <p>“It is truly amazing that these 10 women have taken upon themselves a new venture in life at their age and have achieved their goal by becoming b’nai mitzvah,” Kutner said. “Usually parents get nachas [joy] from their children and grandchildren; [in this instance] many children, grandchildren and beyond [got] nachas from the matriarch of their family.”</p>

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