I have been working on this idea for some time. I have lived on into the 21st Century. Back in 1939 I had a Bar Mitzvah which was imposed on me by tradition, family and, I guess, it was a “must” happening while millions of my co-religionists were being rounded up and put in concentration camps after being robbed of their possessions and being told they would be sent out to do labor for the good of the German Reich. We know that they were the scapegoats for Germany’s WWI defeat and the struggle between the right and left at that time for supremacy. Hitler and his National Socialist Party (NAZI) won and I eventually turned old enough to serve in the armies defeating him and his philosophy.
I turned 80 last September and a budding idea that I could repeat this ceremony – but this time with knowledge and a lot of feeling – turned into a realistic occasion in which the family descended from me could participate. I had to find a date and it turned out that 13 years from 70 would bring me up to 2008 when I was 83. It seemed a good idea when I thought of it but there were problems to overcome.
One branch of my family is out in California and the kids have to go to school. They have a summer vacation and for my 80th birthday Carol planned for them to come out to visit and celebrate the event with us. They will also have a summer vacation in 2008 and we planned around that. August 9th seemed to be open according to Rabbi Young and that will be the target for the California bunch.
Our thinking is that the East Coast Bunch are old enough to make plans for themselves and, if they want to come, I bless them for it. There could be a great grandchild present at that time and it would be greatly pleasing to me if he/she could come too.
For those who follow these things, my portion of the Torah that I will be responsible to read aloud will be the beginning section of Deuteronomy. I will be spending a lot of time with this, especially reading it in Hebrew but I could be talked into chanting it in trope.
This is a general invitation to all of my friends in Ruach and Temple Sinai as well as friends in the Choruspondents Choir. It also announces for those interested that I would be pleased if they join those mentioned above and would like to share the ritual and the reception afterwards. Positive responses are solicited.