I recently got into a "heated" debate with a good friend of mine as to whether one should make a celebration for a girl upon her twelfth birthday.
I brought down Rav Moshe Feinstein's Shittah on the matter in which he basically said that such a party isn't a Seudat Mitzvah and he compared a Bat Mitzvah celebration to like any other birthday celebration.
My friend however brought down a response by Rav Ovadia Yossef who brought several proofs that such a party is indeed a Seudat Mitzvah.
I wonder what the Minhag of the Midrash is. Do girls celebrate their twelth birthday like any ordinary birthday part? or....
P.S. Rav Ovadia added that the celebrations should ofcourse be according to strict Jewish law, such as seperate dancing, and proper mode of dress. If the parties have mixed dancing and the like, one is getting involved in serious prohibitions of the Torah.