Source: MyBatMitzvahStory.org
MyBatMitzvahStory.org, a project of the Jewish Women’s Archive (JWA), provides a safe and fun online setting in which bat-mitzvah-age girls can explore and express their emerging identities as Jewish women. Girls and their families can investigate their own history together, when and where they choose.
MyBatMitzvahStory.org provides tools and templates that girls can use to gather, organize, and share material on their own personalized (but completely private) profile pages. Girls can reflect on who they are and who they might become. They will also be introduced to new role models through the stories of activists, artists, athletes, and other dynamic Jewish women making an impact today.
Reflecting the increasing diversity of the American Jewish community, MyBatMitzvahStory.org offers options for unaffiliated and interfaith families to mark a girl’s coming of age, as well as opportunities to enrich the experience of those celebrating this milestone in traditional ways. MyBatMitzvahStory.org helps girls ages 11-13 build powerful connections to their heritage and a solid foundation for their future as strong Jewish women.
MyBatMitzvahStory.org also offers tips for parents and activity guides for clergy and educators to use in offline, mixed-gender settings as well as resources for tutors that will engage girls and boys by connecting personally to their bat/bar mitzvah preparation.
Among the tools on the MyBatMitzvahStory.org website is The Family History Tool Kit, a comprehensive guide to conducting oral history interviews.
MyBatMitzvahStory.org is a project of the Jewish Women’s Archive (JWA), a national non-profit organization founded in 1995, JWA is devoted to making known the stories, struggles, and achievements of Jewish women in North America in order to enrich the way we understand the past and to ensure a more inclusive future. JWA has amassed the most extensive collection of material anywhere on American Jewish women, and it can be accessed for free by anyone with an Internet connection. JWA’s website is a destination for people seeking knowledge, a sense of connection and community, and a way to affirm and enhance the legacy of American Jewish women.