"When I first heard about the possibility of participating in a Bat Mitzvah class, I didn’t spend much time thinking about it," said Henny Lubow from the bima at Temple Israel. "I knew that I could expect no less of myself than I had expected from my children."

Lubow, age 78, took part in the Dayton area’s most recent adult B’nai Mitzvah ceremony, on March 24. The six participants that Saturday morning each read a section of the weekly Torah portion in Hebrew and delivered a speech.

Rabbis from all the local synagogues say that adult B’nai Mitzvah are episodic events; no local synagogue does them on a schedule. Each rabbi has his or her own perspective on the necessary preparation.

Rabbi Janice Garfunkel of Springfield’s Temple Sholom has a current B’nai Mitzvah class of four. Their goal, she says, is to learn Hebrew, to chant Torah, and to acquire a basic level of competence in service-leading skills. Her current students were inspired by the adult Bat Mitzvah a year ago of another congregant, Nance Parent.

Garfunkel admits that adults have a disadvantage in learning Hebrew: The part of the brain designated for language acquisition atrophies as people age, she said. "Once in a while, an adult just finds it impossible."

On the other hand, she notes that adults can be very motivated and self-disciplined. She herself has an inspiring family tale: one of her aunts had her Bat Mitzvah at age 80, and continued leading services for years after.

She also relates the classic story of Rabbi Akiva, one of the founders of rabbinic Judaism. According to tradition, he was illiterate until age 40. At that point, the story goes, he saw a rock with a ridge in it worn away by water. He thought, "If just water can do that, I can learn to read."

Rabbi Kari Hofmeister of Middletown’s Temple Beth Sholom has not officiated at an adult B’nai Mitzvah recently, but she is a fan of them.

"I had one myself!" she says. Raised a Christian, in her mid-20s she took conversion and pre-Bat Mitzvah classes together. By the time she became a Bat Mitzvah, she was so used to studying that she looked for another class. She joined a Torah study group that led her to her vocation.

Nine years after her Bat Mitzvah, Hofmeister was ordained as a rabbi.

Temple Beth Or’s adult B’nai Mitzvah typically are a culmination of adult Hebrew classes taught by Cantor Joyce Dumtschin. As the classes progress, students decide if they want to take part in a Bar or Bat Mitzvah ceremony; if they do, more information on liturgy and its history is taught. Beth Or held its most recent B’nai Mitzvah last fall.

"As adults, the whole point is to be able to do this at a different level," says Rabbi David Sofian of Temple Israel. Young people studying for their Bar or Bat Mitzvah, he says, "are mostly working on a skill-set." For adults, "the most important thing is the process and the education."

To that end, Sofian’s pre-B’nai Mitzvah course was only partly devoted to Hebrew language acquisition. "We discussed holidays, lifestyle, history, theology, the Holocaust and Israel. My goal was to give them the basics and go deeper."

"The thing I like to do most in the rabbinate is teach,"Sofian says.

For six months, the group met weekly for an hour or more.

"We only spent a month or two working on the ceremony. The main emphasis was on learning," says Lubow, who grew up when girls were not encouraged or even allowed to have a Bat Mitzvah. Her daughter, Judy Lubow, also had her Bat Mitzvah as part of the adult ceremony.

"Rabbi Sofian talked about the agricultural basis of some of our holidays and what we Jews took from different countries we lived in…. It was a lovely experience, and it’s encouraged me to keep on studying and learning."

Sofian said he found his students’ B’nai Mitzvah speeches and the congregation’s response especially moving. With the speeches, he says, "a window on a given person opens up for a moment."

In their own words

Excerpts of speeches from Temple Israel's Adult B'nai Mitzvah service, March 24