by Jill Finkelstein
Link Roundup:Adrienne Rich and the Bat Mitzvah at 90
Welcome to this week’s installment of Lilith’s Link Roundup. Each week we post Jewish and feminist highlights from around the web. If there’s anything you want to be sure we know about, email us or leave a message in the comments section below.
Ground-breaking feminist poet Adrienne Rich died on March 27th at the age of 82. [NY Times]
Adrienne Rich’s poetry and activism changed the course of arts and letters. Here’s a look back at her original poem, Turning, from the 1989 Winter issue of Lilith.
In an effort to fight eating disorders, Israeli lawmakers passed a bill banning the use of underweight models in advertisements. In addition, “any advertisement published for the Israeli market must have a clearly written notice disclosing if its models were made to look thinner by digital manipulation.” Currently, about 2% of girls between the ages of 14 and 18 suffer from severe eating disorders in Israel. [AP via Huffington Post]
The Bat Mitzvah celebrated its 90th anniversary! On March 18, 1922, just two years after women got the right to vote, Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan’s daughter, Judith, became the first girl to have a Bat Mitzvah, though the ritual took a while to catch on. In honor 
of the occasion, the National Museum of American Jewish History launched the traveling exhibit Bat Mitzvah Comes of Age (currently on display at the JCC Manhattan) and hosted a panel on the history of the Bat Mitzvah. Actress Mayim Bialik, the keynote speaker, spoke about her own Bat Mitzvah experience and how it inspired her to delve deeper into her Jewish studies. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Have Bat Mitzvahs become too glitzy? Marjorie Ingall explained why the true meaning behind the ritual is often lost when the focus becomes about “flashy parties and clothes.” [Tablet Magazine]
U.S. Congressman Dave Camp has come under fire for allowing his aide, Aharon Friedman, to deny his ex-wife, Tamar Epstein, a get. However, according to First Amendment law expert Eugene Volokh, if Camp were to command Freedman to give Epstein a get or fired him for refusing to do so, he would be in violation of the law and the Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. However, even if Camp can’t coerce Friedman religiously, the pressure of public opinion is mounting for Friedman to cooperate. [Tablet Magazine] & [Slate]
Dina Jones and Dana Bokobza broke boundaries last week when they became the first female firefighters to be accepted into Israel’s Fire Services’ commander course. [Ynet]
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