As a father of three fairly young kids, I often think about how much responsibility is age appropriate. Two weekends ago we attended the bar mitzvah of a friend’s son. It was at a reform temple and much of the service was in English, which meant that I could follow it. I am a big fan of the message of personal responsibility that’s at the heart of bar mitzvah. It is striking to me though how much less responsibility we seem to be giving children today than when I was growing up. It starts wit...
