title: Significance of a bar/bat mitzvah ceremony for parents of Jewish children with developmental disabilities.
abstract: In the Jewish religion, a bar or bat mitzvah ceremony is the rite of passage from childhood towards adulthood. Twenty-one youngsters who attended two special education schools in Israel participated in group bar/bat mitzvah ceremonies. Parents were interviewed both before the learning process and after the ceremony. Findings showed that the bar/bat mitzvah experience was a positive multidimensional one. Dimensions identified were bar/bat mitzvah as a transition, a normative, and a religious experience; an event leading to a sense of connectedness; an opportunity for the enhancement of self-image; and a peak life experience.
authors.affiliation: Special Education Department, Beit Berl College, Doar Beit Berl, Israel. gila@beitberl.ac.il
authors.forename: Gila
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vogel
authors.forename: Shunit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reiter
mesh_terms: D002562:Ceremonial Behavior; D002648:Child; D002658:Developmental Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007599:Judaism; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents