Bat mitzvah

Passing the Congregation Shearith Israel on Central Park West[…], Professor Solanka scurrying through the downpour remembered the newly bat-mitzvahed thirteen-year-old girl he’d glimpsed through the side door, waiting knife in hand for the ceremony of the blessing of the bread.

Though I was bat mitzvah’d, my parents always made it clear that they weren’t big proponents of organized religion either. But being Jewish was still woven into the fabric of my upbringing with rituals, family history and core values.