I’ll never forget the first bat mitzvah invitation my oldest daughter, who is now 22, received. It didn’t come in the mail. It was hand delivered after dark by a lady in a fairy godmother costume, ...

As October neared its end and my sister Elana’s bat mitzvah party got closer and closer, what had been occasional party preparations became a whirlwind of activity. Guest responses had to be obtained ...

It starts as a trickle. My oldest child, Becca, 12, is going into seventh grade. An invitation arrives from a boy at her new school. He doesn’t know Becca, nor she him, but in a kind gesture he has ...