My Big Fat Bar Mitzvah (ATOM Study Guide)

My Big Fat Bar Mitzvah (Susan Lambert, 2013) steps inside the wild world of some of Australia's biggest and best bar mitzvah parties, uncovering a new and crazy aspect of contemporary Jewish life. Told through three characters that are all about to embark on this Jewish coming-of-age ceremony, we go behind the scenes of a small but elite community to witness some of the most extraordinary celebrations of contemporary Australian life.

Gideon Aroni, Paula Volchek and Naor Malak and their families are planning for big parties after their religious celebration. Gideon wants a Hollywood theme, Paula's family are going to surprise her with a celebrity theme and Naor wants to honour his father's heritage with a Moroccan theme.

Gideon's mum Roz is the in-house party planner and, despite dad Benni's reservations, is determined to bring Hollywood to Melbourne with Gideon as the star. Paula is the first member of her family to celebrate this event; her family is from Ukraine, where they were forbidden to practice Jewish custom when it was under communist rule, so she is a celebrity in their eyes. Naor's party will include a Moroccan henna ceremony complete with costumes, traditional dancing and feasting.

This study guide is suitable for use in secondary-school studies of Religion.