Bar Mitzvah
Whitney McClain April10th, 2013 Religions 9:30-10:45 Bar Mitzvah Party I chose to try and attend a Bar Mitzvah ceremony after your brief description of the festivity in class. I did not know anyone that was Jewish so I asked around my job. It just so happened that my co-worker was jewish and had a friends whose son was going to have a bar mitzvah. The ceremony was held at the conference on okaloosa island. I did do some research so I was not totally ignorant of what was about to come and also to be expected of me.
I did dress formally due to the fact the event was held at night At the beginning of the service Aaron the 13 year old son took the stage to prepare to read from the Torah. The elders were beside Aaron and began to then chant the word before giving the spot light to him. They then passed the microphone and let him read his chosen passage from the book. This only lasted for about six minutes. I found this to be interesting because the moment was so short but would last a life time. It signified so much more than the actual act of reading the torah.
It was a moment of happiness of becoming a man building up to all of which he had trained for; and a moment of proudness for family and friends. After he was done reading his piece we clapped, and sung in celebration. Some of Aaron’s friends begun to throw candy at him to be funny. They threw the candy somewhat harder than what I expected, but it was all fun and games and rather mischievous. After the service was finished I watched everyone in the ceremony interact with one another.
Everyone was quite happy and it showed on their faces it was a high spirited environment. The rest of the ceremony was the after party which I did not attend since I had to work in the morning. What I gathered from my experience I was that the Jewish religion seems like a very disciplined and traditional practice. Those aspects mean very much to them and has molded their society to what it is now. Everyone was put through certain steps and earned their way toward adulthood.
I understand that before the bar mitzvah several things are required of them. They are put into school and work to achieve or earn their celebration. I respected this because it gave them a good sense of their being. It instilled in the children what it is to become an adult. That things are not going to be handed to but earned and with that becomes responsibility. Now that Aaron is 13 he is seen to be old enough to follow the commandments, as an adult. I believe he intends to do so and follow his teachings.
