Social scientists, myself included, have charted — and implicitly celebrated — the growing and exhilarating diversity of Jewish identities, communities and innovation.
While many children of bar mitzvah age are unable to grasp all that their newfound responsibilities entail, each one recognizes the occasion as an important turning point in their lives as Jews.
For Daniel and Lauren, becoming authors has also meant serving as peer educators.
\”I told my friends that I wrote a book about the Holocaust, and at least three of them didn\’t know what it was,\” said Daniel. Lauren had a similar experience.
Devin never thought he would get to bring his love for skateboarding into his rite of passage: \”I thought it would be like my sister, and I\’d work at a shelter, but this was a lot more fun.\”
Consider orchestrating a Bar Mitzvah Treasure Hunt that you can host in your backyard, throughout your house or even in a hall rented for the occasion.
George Valencia said the inspiration for the film came from his worst memory as a bar mitzvah emcee — he had run out of glow ropes during a party for a particularly affluent family only to discover that the bar mitzvah boy had never received one.
This week, Jacob is doing research on the Internet for a little dvar Torah he\’ll be giving at the Etta Israel Shabbaton at Beth Jacob Congregation. Etta Israel is the popular local organization that caters to kids with Down syndrome and other special needs, and it\’s where Jacob studied Judaism every Sunday for seven years.
Anti-poverty activists and residents say the situation of many towns like Shechunat Hatikvah is the result of decades of government neglect and poor planning — places seen as dumping grounds where immigrants were settled in demographically strategic locations but far from job opportunities.
The service was heartfelt, but it was also unsettling. There was a kind of emotional chaos in the air — almost a reluctance to accept that a beautiful life could be taken away from someone so God-fearing and life-giving.
Jews are no different. Whether male or female, young or old, Ashkenazic or Sephardic, rich or poor, left-wing or right-wing, religious or secular, SUV-driving or Prius-driving, loud or quiet, screenwriter or grant writer, somehow, no matter how good you feel in our own skin, and how much you enjoy your own company, none of us wants to be alone.
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