The Neuroscience of the Bar Mitzvah
"Seventy percent of the primal cultures studied by anthropologists have some formal adolescent-initiation practice. Some are for males only, some for females only, and some for both. These rites of passage can involve separation, seclusion, physical hardship, psychological stress, deprivation of food or sleep, and sometimes also torture and bodily mutilation.
These initiation rites precede marriage, reproduction and adult responsibilities. In the case of contemporary American Judaism, the initiation ordeal involves going to Hebrew school for a couple of years -- a form of torture for many of these kids who would rather be playing computer games or hanging out with their friends on the weekend."
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