Afsaneh Daneshvar Has Bat Mitzvah At Hadassah Hospital in Israel

Hadassah Southern California Member Afsaneh Daneshvar Celebrates Her Bat Mitzvah Against Stunning Backdrop of Marc Chagall’s 12 Stained Glass Windows at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem

Hadassah Southern California member Afsaneh Daneshvar reads from the Sefer Torah at her bat mitzvah against the backdrop of the famed 12 Marc Chagall-designed, stained glass windows in the Abell Synagogue at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem. Afsaneh Daneshvar and her husband David Daneshvar participated in Hadassah’s recent 70^th Anniversary of the State of Israel Mission. A bat mitzvah, a traditional Jewish religious ritual for Jewish girls which usually takes place at the age of 12, is a “coming of age” ceremony in which she is now responsible for performing her own “mitzvot” (commandment or good deed) and accepting her responsibilities in the Jewish religion. The tradition for bat mitzvah ceremonies for adult Jewish women began in the U.S. about three decades ago. A Sefer Torah is a hand-written copy of the Torah usually stored in the holiest spot in the synagogue along a wall that most closely faces Jerusalem. Chagall’s 12 stained glass windows, inspired by the Bible’s stories of Jacob’s blessings to his 12 sons and Moses’ blessings to the 12 tribes of Israel, were unveiled in the presence of the artist at the opening of the Abell Synagogue at the 50^th anniversary of the Hadassah Medical Organization in Israel in 1962.

Photo Credit: Hadassah

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Contact: Renee Young

Hadassah National Public Relations
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