Contact Admin. I am going to be visiting Israel for 2 weeks in October on an organized tour. I have never been Bat Mitzvah, and remember someone telling me it is possible to do so in Israel as an adult without many years of religious study. Becoming a Bat Mitzvah is not a customary ceremony in Israel whether it be as a 12 year old girl or an adult woman.
While I can appreciate your strong desire to be brought 'officially' into Judaism the fact is this is a very uncommon aspect of religious life in Israel and thus may be difficult to arrange.
If you contact a conservative or Reform Rabbi they will probably be able to arrange something. Others here on the site may have names--or use the search feature because names have been mentioned in conjunction with Bar and Bat Mitzvah of kids,. BTW you may never have had any kind of ceremony--many adult women didn't but on your 12th Birthday you became a Bat Mitzvah.
Bat Mitzvahs are a popular event in Israel , particularly in the Conservative, Reform, traditional and secular communities. Anyone can organise one since they are more of an informal religious event. However, even to my secular ears, a Bat Mitzvah without any study of the traditions of Judaism seems rather meaningless. As rdglady says, if you have passed your 12th birthday and are Jewish you are a bat mitzva with or without ceremonies, studying or anything else.
Bat or bar mitzva simply means - roughly translated - "of the age of responsibility". I can understand your desire for a ceremony, but you are no less bat mitzva without it. Even 40 years ago "bat mitzva" as a ceremony, apart from non-Orthodox streams of Judaism, was almost unheard of. Millions of women reached the age of "bat mitzva" without any kind of ceremony. Chana - I cannot believe that, as a tour guide, you really think that it may be difficult to arrange a Bat Mitzva ceremony in Israel.
