What's Your Fondest Bar/Bat Mitzvah Memory?

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 2:19pm

Mine was when we went shopping for my "offical Bar Mitzvah Suit" and we got into a big fight RIGHT in the Menswear Store re: my Father's "taste" in clothing.

He wanted me to wear PURPLE pants! (This was the 1970s)

C'mon, Dad we couldn't have gotten me something in a nice charcoal gray?


What's Yours? :)

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 2:20pm

Showing up my cousin on the bimah. (We had our bar mitzvah together).
I was good, he was...well, I was good anyway.

[midnghtdolphin]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 3:08pm

the party afterwards. no more hebrew lessons for me!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 3:16pm

yea the party afterwards was the best....or well actually maybe it was the opening of all the gifts after the party

[Plum]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 3:31pm

I never had one. *dances happily*

[CurtainUp]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 3:43pm

My reading was one of the mentionings of the Commandments and instead of "Thou Shalt Not Steal" I said "Thou Shalt Steal" :)

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 5:18pm

my bar mitzvah, all the other ones are crapola!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 5:22pm

lol you havent been to any other fun ones caroline-o-or-tboo? i mean of course your own one is definetlly the best for anyone. but going to others especially after you've had yours is really fun too. like my sister had her bat mitzvah about 2 years after i had mine. hers was actually on my 15th birthday....what a day. she was really sweet about it tho and it was tons of fun for me too cuz my parents let me invite some of my friends to the party and stuff.

[blueroses]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 5:52pm

My parents crying when I sang my Haftarah.

My friends arguing over who really won the "prize" from the Pepsi/7Up contest--Toni Basil's "Oh Mickey" 45.

Best of all--my beloved, late Russian born father and his cousins kick-ass dancing during the hora. It reminds me of the bottle dancing scene in Fiddler...which is why it choked me up when I saw it a few months ago.

[midtowngym]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 6:57pm

I was smoking pot with some friends in my backyard the week before my Bar Mitzvah. My mother came looking for me and i panicked, ran into a fence and had to wear a cast for 6 weeks. I wanted to cancel the damn thing, but the show must go on according to my mother. All the pictures show me with only one arm. I hid the cast. Bummer.

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 7:00pm

"Bar Mitzvah in a Cast," Midtown?

That sounds like a Robert Aldrich Movie!

[midtowngym]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 7:02pm

it was a very traumatic experience. Of course, all my friends thought it was HILARIOUS!

[Matt_G]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 7:02pm

My Bar Mitzvah was filled with people I didn't know and didn't want to know. I got all my money and went into a room to count it. That was one of the last times I was ever in a temple.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 7:03pm

Matt, what a touching story... LOL!

[midtowngym]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 7:05pm

it seems appropriate, since Matt_G is going to H-E-Double Hockey Sticks for his impure thoughts about Jake.

[Matt_G]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 7:06pm

Yes, Adgal. That story keeps me warm on cold winter nights. And I'll be roasting for more than my thoughts about Jake, Midtown!

[NYadgal]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 7:25pm

Matt - a bunch of us will be right there roasting with you!!

[sabrelady]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 7:44pm

Well actually it was quite a bit after but I was @ some hebrew school thing & the senior rabbi came to visit . He thought VERY well of himself ( our nikname for him was G*d) and he started quoting a parash. EXCEPT it was my Batmitzvah portion- the one piece I knew backwords/forwards & he misquoted it and I corrected him !!! Oh the look on his face!! One for the sh*tdisturbers!!

[Broadwayboobs]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 7:46pm

Hell looks pretty good to me right now...better than living with my Grandmother.

[Matt_G]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 7:47pm

I would have Hebrew school on Tuesday nights and wouldn't get home until around 8:30 usually which became unacceptable when I started missing WHO'S THE BOSS, so I would make sure I got in trouble every week so they would send me home early.

[The Grovers Corners Yenta]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 8:17pm

I did not get to have my Bat Mitzvah because my father would not permit me me to have one. He wasn't observant........just very difficult. Of course my brother had the Bar Mitzvah to end all Bar Mitzvot. I decided at the age of 13 that studying was more important to me rather than a ceremoney with gifts, dancing, the whole thing. Mainly because I saw kids ending their religious study right after and that also meant an end to their observance as well. Not for me! I learned Hebrew on my own, studied Torah, Talmud, Mishnah...........everything. I got to the point where my survival as a Jew meant more to me than a ceremoney. The thing is that today
I have not stopped studying and regard myself as an observant Jew. I often wonder what my life would have been like if I did have a Bat Mitzvah.

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 8:30pm

Hey Yenta,

It's NOT TOO LATE!!!

I know a Rabbi who has Bar/Bat Mitzhved people in their '60s.


I'm sure others would as well. . .

[midtowngym]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 8:39pm

my mother was bat mitzvahed 2 years ago--at 72!! She was always angry her religious father said it 'didn't matter' if she was. She got him!

[The Grovers Corners Yenta]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 8:46pm

There have been times when I did consider an adult Bat Mitzvah. My Mom had one when she was in her 50's. But right now, my dedication and level of observance means more to me than a ceremoney. I am very active in my shul and always study something. I am even learning to read Torah for services on Saturday mornings. What I am doing now means so much more to my spirit. My religion is in my heart and not in a ceremoney.

[midtowngym]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 8:47pm

hmmmm.... maybe my mother did it just for the party?.... Nah!