I don't think they're making a big deal out of it. You act like because it's the NYT everything in it must be IMPORTANT NEWS. Or that they're trying to say it is important news Can you tell me you've never read the human interest stories that are just about some random people who live in the area? For example, today in my local paper there's a story about a Reverend who is also... a carpenter. Not news. Without Human Interest stories, newspapers don't keep their readership and lose subscribers to the internet.

Maybe it's "nothing" to you, but bat/bar mitvahs are an important rite of passage to members of the Jewish community, whether born into it, adopted into it (the girl in the article) or converted into it (Sammy Davis Jr., Charlotte from SATC).

I just don't think they should have made a big deal out of a Chinese girl's bat mitzvah just because she's Chinese. They wouldn't have made a big deal out of a child from a country where there is a known Jewish population.

But they're not making a big deal about it.

I thought it was a really nice story and I found it interesting.

You're right that these days a Russian adoptee/emigre's bar or bat mitzvah may not be in the New York Times. But it certainly was not so long ago. The former Soviet Union was not exactly known for religious freedom and back when I was of bat mitzvah age, it was very common to have a bar or bat mitzvah "twin" - a Jewish boy or girl in the USSR who wasn't allowed to have a bar mitzvah.

It's not a big deal, it's just interesting. I, for one, have never seen a chinese jew before. That's why there's a story-because many people are like me and haven't seen it. Who cares? She's adopted, chinese and jewish. That makes a good story.

Yes, yes and yes.