Yes, the cliché of the over-the-top, \”Keeping Up with the Steins\”-style bar mitzvah exists, simply because many of us won\’t let it die. But this year, among my sons\’ classmates, I\’ve found excess to be the exception.
Living with the trauma and sorrow of losing a brother or sister in the Israel Defense Forces has scarred all of the 30 12- and 13-year-olds who spent 10 days at Camp Ramah in Ojai earlier this month. The Legacy/Moreshet program, sponsored by Friends of the IDF (FIDF), gave kids who lost a sibling or parent in combat a bar or bat mitzvah present that allowed them to have an American-style summer blast — if not to forget, then at least to enjoy a respite from the sadness that follows them at home.
At 7 a.m., after a long, grueling red-eye journey from Los Angeles, our plane landed on a narrow runway carved out of the lush rainforest deep in a remote island area of the Panamanian outback. As my son, Adam, 13, and I trudged off the plane, 40 smiling Kuna natives eagerly welcomed us to the exotic island of Playon Chico. With vivid memories of Adam\’s bar mitzvah just a fortnight prior replaying in my mind, I couldn\’t help but think that this would be the adventure of a lifetime. Indeed, it was.
