Originally posted by JR2000Z
Errr....sort to on topic (you guys kinda lost me back in the 2nd page)
Im not Jewish ( Im Roman Catholic) but the most Jewishy thing I've ever done was go to this Jewish event where a 13 (or something like that) year old read Hebrew (I think its Hebrew) text and stuff...everyone wore those Jewish hats.....it was like two hours long....
But there was candy involved so I think it all worked out. 
A Bar Mitzvah if the person is a guy and a Bat Mitzvah if the person is a girl. It's a rite of passage where the kid becomes a member of the adult Jewish community. I had mine last February. And you don't have to be exactly 13, you can be older too, but not younger. And the hat is a kippah (sp?) in Hebrew or a yamulke(pronounced yamukah) in Yiddish. The candy is only sometimes used (and when it is, you usually throw it at the kid when the service is over. did you do that JZ?) and it symbolizes the sweetness of the event. At my cousin's Bar Mitzvah, the rabbi (Jewish version of the priest or minister) threw a big bag of jelly beans at him when the service was over, but the kid ducked and it hit somebody else...that was an expirience. The rabbi had a good arm for an old guy though. The service can be from 1 1/2 hours long to 3 hours (maybe more in other places I don't know). Anyway, that is a seriously important event...especially because everyone who comes usually gives you a really cool present!
But it is very important and very symbolic. It's basically like confirmation (sp?) for some Christian people. And that's just the basic overview. I could go on and on and on forever about it but I'll spare you guys from the pain of Hebrew and stuff, since the pronunciation doesn't even come out at all the same as the way it would be written in english. For example, echad isn't the normal ch sound but a sound you make with your throat.
