The letter arrives with your child's Bar or Bat Mitzvah date, two years in a very distant future.  But you've heard that you need to book the band and the photographer and the caterer now, or you'll have to settle for "second best."  Rumors are flying that your neighbor's recent B'nai Mitzvah party topped $90,000.  You discover that your child's best friend who attends a different synagogue was assigned the same date.  The pressure is on...how can you have a wonderful, meaningful family-oriented experience that your child will remember forever?  The answer is simple...Israel.

Think about it...you can spend the next 2 years planning, comparing, tasting, signing (contracts and checks) and dieting (oy), or can plan the trip of a lifetime.  Nothing will have a greater impact on your child than celebrating their Jewish life cycle event in Israel.  Imagine standing near the Kotel (Western Wall) or on top of Massada and experiencing your child's rite of passage in the land of their ancestors.

With proper planning and time, you can organize a family trip and invite friends to join you.  Plan your trip over summer or winter break and make sure to let the important people know...perhaps you can organize a group trip through one of the many travel groups who plan Bar Mitzvah trips.  If you are fortunate to have close family friends with a child the same age, talk about planning a shared B'nai Mitzvah!  Ask your synagogue if they sponsor a trip to Israel and you can share your celebration with other congregants!

Don't be concerned that you are not entertaining your relatives and friends at a traditional party.  On a different weekend, invite your friends and family to services when your child reads Torah and follow the service with a Kiddush Lunch celebration.  Send a simple invitation inviting guests to join you:

Please join our family

at Shabbat Services

to celebrate

David's Bar Mitzvah

as he reads from the Torah

Saturday, June 24th, 2006

Congregation Shalom

Kiddush Luncheon to follow

David will read Torah at Massada

on June 10, 2006

Please join us if you are in Israel.

Plan a kid's party so that your child can share their special event with his or her friends.  Ta da!  You have planned the ultimate Bar Mitzvah with memories that will far outshine a whirlwind weekend of catered food and expensive clothing and decorations.  See, you can have your cake...and go to Israel, too!

 

Sheri Freedman
Two's Company, North Potomac, MD
301-279-0928

 

< back to top