A striking look at the Jewish rite-and at American Jews in all their diversity Since its emergence here a century ago, the bar or bat mitzvah has become a distinctively American rite of passage, so much so that, in certain suburbs today, gent...

Have you ever met a child who talked like an adult? Who knew big words and how to use them? Was he a charmer or an insufferable smart aleck-or maybe both? Mark Oppenheimer was just such a boy, his talent for langua...