Photoessay #648 - Pam's bat mitzvah!

My sister Pam had her bat mitzvah this evening at Temple Beth El in Rockford. It all came off beautifully. Couple stumbles in the Hebrew and bumbling by participating family members but all in all, a great achievement. About 40 people in attendance including some friends from the community.

The most wonderful surprise for my sister is her mentor and teacher, Karen, from Lafayette came unexpectedly. Karen had originally said she was coming but then had to work. She and another friend from Lafayette made the 4 hour drive to surprise Pam. She was so thrilled to see Karen, her anxiety went way down, she knew she could do it if Karen was there.

I don't know the term but there is a custom when bar or bat mitzvah is reading the torah portion to have one or two of their teachers or the rabbi stand at their side following along with the Hebrew text. The teachers will quietly correct the reader on any mistakes. It is not considered a bad thing to be corrected, the idea is that the portion must be read correctly and the teachers are there to support you. So, Pam knew with Karen up there with her, she could get through it.

My mom INSISTED that she had to come in the early afternoon when we set everything up. This was HER temple and darned if she wasn't going to make sure we did everything to HER satisfaction. My role has been mainly as purchaser, I have purchased the fruit for the fruit plate, the punch ingredients, the cake and the flowers all over town.

One of my mom's friends hosted a lovely dinner party for everybody before the service. So nice, that's when Pam got to see that Karen had come.

Most amusing part. During the solemn silent meditation portion, the rabbi was up there on the bima advising my sister.

Knock knock
(my sister is stunned, knock knock jokes??)

The rabbi says again

Knock knock
(my sister goes along) Who's there
Orange
Orange who?
Orange you glad it's almost the torah portion?

I would have cracked up right there......

Edit...my brother prepared a lovely .pdf file of the event. Check it out