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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>From: menucha <A
href="mailto:menu@inter.net.il">menu@inter.net.il</A><BR><BR>>>I am
wondering if there is an inyan to have a seudat bat mitzva<BR>(obviously for
those who hold that a seudat bat mitzva is a seudat<BR>mitzva) on the actual
birthday.<<</FONT></DIV>
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size=2><BR><BR> </DIV></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>>>>>></DIV>
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<DIV>As for the claim that this is a "seudas mitzva" I must admit that I can't
see what makes the party a seudas mitzva at all. I don't think it makes
any difference whatsoever when you have the party (or when you have a boy's bar
mitzva party either, for that matter). Something specific happens at a
bris or at a wedding. Nothing happens on a boy's 13th or a girl's 12th
birthday -- nothing particular that you do that day. Leining is optional,
an aliyah is optional, there's no certain thing you /have/ to do to become
bar mitzva or bas mitzva as there is something you /have/ to do change your
status from single to married person. It's just that from this day
forward, you have to keep all the mitzvos that you have to keep, every day from
now on and for the rest of your life. But you reached that status of
"responsible adult" just by waking up that day. The first bracha you made
after waking up on your birthday -- saying asher yatzar maybe -- calls
for a seudas mitzva? I just don't see it.</DIV>
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<DIV>
<DIV>Please see what I wrote on Cross-Currents about that very issue, expressing
my ambivalence about the very idea of a bas mitzva. These were my maiden
efforts, literally! -- my first two posts on Cross-Currents.</DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2005/01/04/why-is-my-daughter-having-a-bas-mitzva/">http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2005/01/04/why-is-my-daughter-having-a-bas-mitzva/</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>and also <A
href="http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2005/01/07/correspondence-about-my-daughters-bas-mitzva/">http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2005/01/07/correspondence-about-my-daughters-bas-mitzva/</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In those posts I expressed both the negative and the positive aspects of
the modern-day bas mitzva celebration.</DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><STRONG></STRONG><BR><B>--Toby
Katz<BR>=============<BR><BR></B><BR></FONT></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Psssst...Have you heard the news? <A title="http://www.stylelist.com/trends?ncid=aolsty00050000000014" href="http://www.stylelist.com/trends?ncid=aolsty00050000000014" target="_blank">There's a new fashion blog, plus the latest fall trends and hair styles at StyleList.com</A>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>