AUNTS, UNCLES AND COUSINS from faraway places came to celebrate the last bar mitzvah of the generation. Balloons danced in the early summer air. That morning Josh Maisel, then 13, entered Beth Israel Congregation in Waterville, Me., as a child, and he emerged, in the eyes of his faith, a man. Serious duties replaced the weightlessness of his younger years. As a child, Josh had listened to Scripture and learned; as an adult, Josh is allowed to read from the Torah so that he can pass on his family's faith to a new generation.
At 14, Josh is astute enough to...
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