Do you have to be Jewish to have a Bat mitsvah?

Answer 1

Yes, you do have to be Jewish to have a Bat Mitzvah (and female for that matter). A Bat Mitzvah literally means "daughter of the commandments," the only people who are "required" to fulfill the commandments are Jewish people. That said, not all Jewish people fulfill all of the commandments and therefore over time, the Bat Mitzvah has come to mean a coming of age ceremony for a Jewish child. This child/young adult is now ready to take his or her place in the community as an adult. This means, being counted as part of a minyan (10 people to complete a congregation at a specific service); she is now required to fast on Fast Days (Yom Kippor for instance) and other requirements. A non-Jew can certainly do the same studying as a Jewish person but they cannot complete the formal training. For example, generally, though not always, a Bat Mitzvah reads from Torah, a non-Jew cannot read from the Torah. A Bat Mitzvah will finish a prayer by saying the Chatimah (which seals the prayer) a non-Jewish person cannot do this in the name of a Jewish community. Just like Jewish people cannot take part in certain aspects of a non-Jewish service, it is also true that a non-Jew cannot take part in all parts of a Jewish service.