Seudat mitzvah 7:37). It is customary at a "bar mitzvah" meal for parents to give thanks and praise to God for giving them the merit to raise a child to "bar mitzvah" and to educate him in the ways of Torah and the commandments. Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef holds that a Bat Mitzvah is also a seudat mitzvah. Based on the Talmud and Midrash, the "seudah" celebration upon the completion of a Talmudic tractate is considered a "seudat mitzvah" ("Yam Shel Shlomo", "Bava Kamma", "Merubah" 37; "Maharam Mintz" 119; "Shach", "Yoreh De'ah" 246:37). This "seudah" is made to rejoice over the accomplishment, and
Society for the Advancement of Judaism Society for the Advancement of Judaism The Society for the Advancement of Judaism is a synagogue and Jewish organization in New York City, on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Founded in 1922 by Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, the synagogue is affiliated with the Reconstructionist Jewish movement. The current rabbi is Lauren Grabelle Herrmann, who succeeded Michael Strassfeld on 1 July 2015. Moshe Nathanson, composer of Hava Nagilah, was Cantor of the SAJ during Kaplan's tenure. The first American Bat Mitzvah was held at the Society for the Advancement of Judaism on Saturday morning, March 18, 1922,