Q: i have been practicing my hebrew for hours and honestly i can get my hebrew potion down but i cant do the prayers like the shema mi chamocha etc can i still become a bat mitzvah?? and has anyone ever read them like in the english part for there bar mitzvah?
A: How often are you going to services? If you are sitting over a book for hours, it's not a surprise if it doesn't sink in. A few hours in a row (even if it's a real cram) really isn't enough to familiarize yourself with a bunch of prayers in a whole other language. The other posters are right who said that you become a bat mitzvah automatically at age 12, but even though that's the case, it's good that you want to do a good job at the service. And the best way to do that is to start going to services more often, and try singing along. They happen every week (and in many synagogues, three times every day). The more you go, the more you'll remember. Plus, it will (hopefully) give the prayers more meaning for you - not as just a bunch of stuff you have to say, but as something heartfelt that Jews have been saying for thousands of years. I think having the prayers transliterated for you is an excellent suggestion if you can't master the Hebrew. But I'd save it for a last resort. If you've been able to memorize your parsha, then you clearly are intelligent enough to learn the prayers as well, with a little more hard work. You can talk with your rabbi about reading them in English instead, but most of the time they'll say no - congregations that do mixed Hebrew and English prayer services, do the Hebrew ones in the original language for a reason. --- to the other Orthodox answerers - the person asking is obviously from another denomination. It's one thing to share what the halacha is, but it's another thing entirely to thereby imply that her problem is invalid or unnecessary. If it was a boy writing this question, while I'm sure you would all answer the same way initially (that you become a bar mitzvah at 13 regardless of whether you lead the service or have an aliya), I sincerely doubt that you would then go on to tell him not to trouble his pretty little head about all that Hebrew since it's unnecessary. Women leining, and to some extent leading davening, is a kavod ha-tzibur issue - and as such only the tzibur itself can determine what is acceptable - not outsiders. She came here looking for help with her role - which is daunting for anyone at that age - and you're using your own views about what a bat mitzvah must be as a way of dismissing her concerns. She deserves better. I know you mean well, and think you're being reassuring, but it's insulting - and it's insulting in a way that often makes Jewish women disgusted with Orthodoxy, which in my opinion is a real chillul Hashem.