A Focus on Values

Celebrate Good Times, Come on… Let’s Celebrate!

How wonderful to be able to celebrate special occasions with family and friends. I recently got to do just that when I attended two family Mitzvahs. My nieces’ sons, born 1 week apart, each became a Bar Mitzvah, which is the Jewish coming of age ritual, when a 13-year old boy becomes a man and responsible for his actions.

Bar Mitzvah’s are my favorite life cycle event and ritual. I love that this ceremony represents hard work, an understanding of a 3300-year tradition and the accomplishment of a job well done. It requires rigorous study and a true sense of bravery as it is nothing short of an act of courage for a young person to stand up in front of everyone they know, lead a service in another language, give a speech and sing ancient prayers. My niece Lindsay’s son Tate even performed the sacred act of laying Tefillin, a daily ritual performed by observant Jews before morning prayers.

As the celebrations continued over two consecutive weekends, the song “We are Family” by Sister Sledge provided an excellent perspective. The line  “I got all my sisters with me” was magnified and in Technicolor. My sister Audee said it best when she sent me the following email:

Just thinking Tate’s Bar Mitzvah was one week ago today and how wonderful it was for Marla and me to have you by our sides when our grandsons became Jewish “men!” To share it with you and four generations of our family was really touching and special. With thanks for your loving presence and support.

The true nature of a Bar Mitzvah however is not about celebrating what the boy has done, because of course reaching a 13th birthday is not usually filled with major accomplishments. It is about celebrating the potential and possibility of the young man’s future.

At the Bar Mitzvah of my niece Kim’s son Jacob, something the Rabbi said in Yiddish struck me as representing the nature of potential and possibility. He said, “I wish you Gezundt, Mazel and Nachus.” Gezundt means health (think of what people say when someone sneezes, i.e. gesundheit). Mazel, which means luck, and Nachus, which means joy, felt like everything we could hope for in the future. Without those three things potential and possibility are pretty much impossible, not just for the Bar Mitzvah boy, but for all of us.

Wishing you Gezundt, Mazel and Nachas for the upcoming Jewish New Year 5775.