Eyal's Bar Mitzvah!
In June of 2007, we travelled to Israel to celebrate Eyal's Bar Mitzvah with Clara's family. This is always a big event in the life of a Jewish family; we made it particularly special by doing it in the Holy Land.
Here we are in the synagogue on Thursday morning for the Torah reading. This is a Sephardic synagogue, so the Torah is in a hard case and read upright. I'm reading, and Eyal is holding the card with the blessing.
Here, Eyal is receiving a blessing from Reb Shushan, one of the elder members of the Moshav and the longtime shamash (caretaker) of the synagogue. Shushan is of the original generation of the Moshav (farming village), having come out of Libya as a young adult soon after Israeli independence. Most of that generation has now passed on. (Update: since this occasion Reb Shushan also has gone on to Olam Haba.)
Here's a good shot of me and "mini-me."
...and another. You can tell I'm enjoying showing these off, can't you?
Please don't flame me about women's rights! This was the Orthodox synagogue in Clara's Moshav, and we did the bar mitzvah there for the convenience and benefit of her family, who probably would have found a progressive synagogue jarring. And as you can see, Clara doesn't seem to mind the mehitza.
After the service, we hosted a little reception on the terrace outside the synagogue. Here Clara's niece, her oldest brother's daughter Tali, is holding a plate of the traditional North African sweets.
Here we are at the party that night; Eyal is giving his 'Bar Mitzvah Speech.'
Let the dancing begin!
Even Eyal's Savta (Clara's mother, Mazal) got up and danced. In the 15 years Clara and I had been married up to this night, I hadn't seen her get up at a party once until this occasion!