My Basmati Bat Mitzvah
by Paula L Freedman
Tara Feldstein the Protagonist
Tara Feldstein is an Indian Jewish girl who lives in New York City. She is having her Bat Mitzvah soon, but she wants to include some of her Indian culture with the ceremony. Through out the book she comes back to the question of whether she is more Jewish or Indian. The following pictures will bring Tara's Identity to life. For example, there is a picture of an Indian god that she believed in which brings her good luck. Further down there is a picture of a meal and different items that have symbolism to the Jewish holiday, Hanukkah also known as the holiday of lights which was around the time of her Bat Mitzvah. Interestingly she celebrates an Indian holiday around the same time as Hanukkah called Diwali which is known as holiday of lights too ( this is shown in a picture below). My last picture represents a question which she has to answer throughout the novel. Two of the pictures have to do with her Jewish culture, one is a girl reading from the Torah. A tradition at Bat Mitzvahs is to memorize a section from the Torah and read it to everyone at the ceremony. The second picture is a menorah which illustrates the land of Israel where the Jewish culture began. The quote near the end of the flyer was from the speech Tara made at her Bat Mitzvah, which was a very important moment for her which showed how she felt about herself and others over the years.
Quote
"Preparing for my Bat Mitzvah made me think about things I'd never thought about before, and maybe didn't want to. But I am glad i did. For one thing, I had to ask myself what it means to be Jewish, and especially what it means for me to be Jewish." said Tara Feldstein
Genre and Literary Element
The genre of this novel is realistic fiction and The Literary Element I based my pictures off of is Tara Feldstein the Protagonist