CRANSTON — On Friday evening, June 13, in a ceremony at Temple Sinai, six mature men and women became B’nei Mitzvah, performing the traditional rite of passage as responsible adults.
The six included: Curt Abbott, Lisa Fertick, Scott Fertik, Irene Fordon-Abbott, Michele Keir and Ruth Snyder. Together they worked during the last six months under the instruction of Rabbi Peter Stein, studying spirituality, Torah interpretation, and learning to read Hebrew in the handwritten, vowel-missing, Torah portion of the week.
The well-attended service heard each participant speak of the reasons behind his or her choice to become a B’nei Mitzvah as an adult. Four in the group were two couples in which one member was a “Jew by choice” and the spouse hadn’t been previously a Bat or Bar Mitzvah. Another is over 80 years of age and, as a girl, was not able to become a Bat Mitzvah in her generation. The last woman had been too intimidated to read in front of an audience at age 12 and chose not to have a Bat Mitzvah.
