By David Baugher, Special to the Jewish Light
• Published July 16, 2014
On a recent Shabbat morning, the sanctuary at Central Reform Congregation is bathed in sunlight and alive with music and dance. Independence Day was the day before, but the festivities aren’t in honor of the July Fourth weekend. Instead, as the ruckus...
Louisa Goldman
Freshman, MICDS High School
• Published November 13, 2013
For many Jewish pre-teens, the most daunting aspect of their bar/bat mitzvah is the idea of a mitzvah project, or an act of charity that betters the community. After it is successfully completed, numerous experience a sense of fulfillment, and promise...
By David Baugher, Special to the Jewish Light
• Published September 25, 2013
It is among the best-known Jewish traditions, one that often sees parents and children alike preparing for months. But Rabbi Ze’ev Smason knows the ceremony marking Jewish adulthood can come with a price.“Unless inspiration is nourished, even those...
Rabbi Bradley Solmsen, JNS.org
• Published June 5, 2013
Mazel Tov on your upcoming simcha! It’s never too early to start thinking about your bar or bat mitzvah, and I advise you to approach this important rite of passage not as a sort of graduation ceremony, but as a meaningful transition towards Jewish...
NEW YORK — Dressed in a black-and-white tuxedo and surrounded by a Secret Service detail, former President Bill Clinton greeted well-wishers at a bar mitzvah held at an upscale hotel in Los Angeles, shaking hands with guests and patiently posing for...
As young people, bar and bat mitzvah parties helped us build character: Awkward social interactions, quiet slow-dances where you desperately try not to make eye contact, and condescending head-pats from adults and kids taller than us. Now that we’re...
Caleb Micah PultmanParents: Andy and Mimi PultmanCongregation: B’nai AmoonaDate of bar/bat Mitzvah: May 26, 2012 Location of reception: J. Bucks Restaurant Downtown Favorite memory?First, Caleb has a wonderful work ethic and took very seriously his...
By SUSAN FADEM, Special to the Jewish Light
• Published June 5, 2013
With his mom’s track record, Blake Berg figured he would enjoy himself. What the 13-year-old did not anticipate was having “the best time of my life.”For older sister Madison’s bat mitzvah two years ago, mom Tracy Berg was inspired by her daughter’s...
LOS ANGELES — More and more families planning bar and bat mitzvahs are taking the advice of Jeffrey Salkin, author of “Putting God on the Guest List,” by making sure to incorporate spiritual elements into their celebrations.But are we re-examining...
NEW YORK — In 3½ all-too-brief years, I’ll be sitting in a synagogue pew watching my oldest son become a bar mitzvah. This milestone event will mean several things.It will mean that my children will have commenced our collective familial descent...
By Sarah Cohen, John Burroughs High School
• Published March 19, 2012
The social lives of both Jewish and non-Jewish seventh graders expand tremendously as they are invited to classmates’ bar and bat mitzvahs. However, recently these students’ social calendars have begun to overflow as their non-Jewish classmates throw...
By Ellen Futterman, Editor
• Published January 25, 2012
B'nai mitzvah mitzvah When Central Reform Congregation members Michael Getty and Brian Vetruba decided to become b'nai mitzvah together, the couple wanted a mitzvah project that was not only meaningful to them but also beneficial to the entire St. Louis...
