Bar Mitzvah, a History

Acknowledgments

ix Acknowledgments This account could not have been written without the help and support of many scholars, libraries, and friends who have been kind enough to share personal reminiscences. In particular my thanks are due to my supervisor and guide, Dr. Sacha Stern at University College London (ucl); to scholar and academic Dr. Klaus Herrmann in Berlin; to my friend and fellow history researcher David Jacobs; and to my tireless editors at the Jewish Publication Society and the University of Nebraska Press, Carol Hupping and Elizabeth Gratch. My thanks also to the many people who have assisted greatly by offering advice, finding sources, translating difficult texts, and reading drafts, especially Rabbi Marc D. Angel, Dr. Helen Beer, Rabbi Jeff Berger, Dr. Annette Böckler, Rabbi Barbara Borts, Vanessa Freedman, Rabbi Amanda Golby, Dr. Claire Hilton, Rabbi Yuval Keren, Yoav Landau-Pope, Rabbi Dr. Abraham Levy, Rabbi Josh Levy, Dr. Naftali Loewenthal, Miriam Rodrigues-Pereira, Rosita Rosenberg, Rabbi Professor Marc Saperstein, Dr. Jeremy Schonfield, Rabbi Dr. Michael Shire, Rabbi Daniela Thau, and Victor Seedman. Help with photography has been kindly provided by Rabbi Frank Dabba Smith and help with finding illustrations by Fabian Graham and by the Temple Museum of Religious Art, the Temple-Tifereth Israel in Beachwood , Ohio. Figure 3 is reproduced with its permission, and figure 1 with the permission of the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. The archives of West London Synagogue were consulted and are here quoted with permission. Every library where I have conducted my research has been helpful, but the library of Leo Baeck College in London surpasses them all for being willing to obtain and even purchase rare material. I have also learned a great deal from comments made by those attending my lectures and x Acknowledgments seminars at Kol Chai Hatch End Jewish Community, the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, Leo Baeck College, Limmud, and elsewhere. I owe a very special debt of gratitude to Kol Chai for generously allowing me time to study and sharing so many fascinating reminiscences. This book was researched and written in its entirety while I was serving as rabbi to Kol Chai. Bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah have been vital parts of its community life, as they have of mine. ...