Bat Mitzvah - the community comes together

Saturday we attended our first Bat Mitzvah. I hope it is not our last.

It was with a new conservative temple that is meeting on weekly at a Methodist church. The service was partly in Hebrew and part in English. We followed a prayerbook that was read Right to Left in pages but Left to Right on the pages. Most of the readings were chanted and the leader ( a women) was very musical and played the guitar while leading the singing.

The service was about a young lady of 13 coming to the Torah. The Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible in scroll format on hand printed sewn parchment. It is the most precious item any Jewish congregation can possess.

Our young friend has been studying how to read it for years and now she was co-leading the service, including the reading of the Torah. She also shared a thought on the Torah. It was about Moses and his compassion for the people of Israel and how he challenged God for the sake of the people of Israel. I thought it was great, especially for one of 13.

Another great part of the service and the reception that followed was that a large percentage of our neighborhood was there! I'm not sure but I think the "Christians" might have outnumbered the "Jews."
Which brings me to the following thoughts.

• In our efforts as Christians to focus on Jesus the true savior, we have lost a lot of the knowledge and traditions that make us a better people, a better community, a better follower of God. The Bible consists of both the Old and the New. Jesus in the completion what God started with the Israelites.


• We really need to celebrate our kids coming into the church and into the role of being an adult. We need to do it as a community, offering our kids a broad base of support of friends and family. It is hard enough being a teenager without us sending them out alone.


• We need to invite our neighbors more into the life of the church, which means we need to have events that allow for such things


• Last Spring I helped with the musical "Fiddler on the Roof" where we watched the erosion of tradition by a more "modern" culture. Modern is not always better. We need more good traditions, and to be more cautious of what we give away.

O yes, Alyssa had a great time at the reception and is quite the paaarty animal. She danced with the "big girls" for hours and was in numerous photographs!