Dei'ah veDibur - Information & Insight
  

A Window into the Chareidi World

16 Tammuz 5759 - June 30 1999 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
NEWS

OPINION
& COMMENT

HOME
& FAMILY

IN-DEPTH
FEATURES

VAAD HORABBONIM HAOLAMI LEINYONEI GIYUR

TOPICS IN THE NEWS

HOMEPAGE

 

Sponsored by
Shema Yisrael Torah Network
Shema Yisrael Torah Network

Produced and housed by
Jencom

Opinion & Comment
From the Diary of the "Bar-Mitzvah King"
by A. Weiss

In listings of professionals, the name Jay Kartzin appears with the addition of the word "Rav." He was born in the United States, and held a number of impressive positions, such as the "spiritual guide" of the Variety Club in Illinois, and the chairman of the Rabbinical Board of the Broadcasting Committee of the Chicago Rabbinate. But he gained most of his fame when he immigrated to Israel in 1985.

Kartzin settled in Jerusalem where he founded Religious Services Unlimited. His organization conducts the largest number of bar-mitzvah celebrations in Jerusalem. Those who turn to him are generally tourists from all over the world, looking to put on impressive ceremonies in Jerusalem. In light of his great popularity, the Jerusalem Post has even called him "The Bar Mitzvah King."

The service can be reached by phone, fax or e-mail. "We receive requests from all over the world," he says about himself, "From Hong Kong to Hawaii, from Venezuela to Australia, and even from Mauritania."

Following are some of the requests which Kartzin publicizes. As he says, they even make him laugh. Actually, they would be very funny, if the reality they represent weren't so very sad, a reflection of the ignorance of well-meaning Jews of yiddishkeit:

* "We aren't particularly religious. Can we conduct a non- religious bar-mitzvah?"

* "Can we rent a pair of tefillin for the event? It's a pity to buy something which we will use only once."

* "My son doesn't like black. Can we buy blue or red tefillin? Those are the colors he likes."

* "Can we hold the bar-mitzvah prior to its real date, so that my son can have it at the Kosel. We've already registered with you, but didn't tell you his real age. Can you be flexible, and loosen the religious belt a bit?"

* "We are planning to visit Israel this summer, and want to hold a large bar-mitzvah celebration. We have many relatives and friends in Israel. We want to take the entire Kosel plaza for this purpose. Is that too hard for you to arrange?"

* "My son doesn't know Hebrew. Therefore we want the prayer service to be as brief as possible. How much of a discount do we get for an abridged ceremony?"

* "We've already decided to hold a bar-mitzvah celebration this summer. Now we are going over our list of honors. Not all of our guests know Hebrew. Can you send us, by means of e- mail, a list of the most important honors which don't require a knowledge of Hebrew? Can a non-Jew receive an honor? We also have an atheist guest. Which honor, which won't offend anyone, can we accord him? Can we at least let him open the doors of the aron kodesh? As you see, we're a very special family."

* "My son heard that they'll throw candies at him at the bar- mitzvah celebration. He's afraid of being hit by hard candies, because he has friends who were injured by candies. I know that you're the one who selects the candies. Can you provide us only with marshmallows in this case. We'll feel much calmer if we know that they'll only throw soft things at him."

* "Our teacher noticed that Brian's bar-mitzvah falls on the last day of Chanuka. There's a long Torah reading on that day. Can you shorten it for us? We're Reform, and all of our Torah readings are abridged. Thank you very much for your understanding and flexibility. None of our guests will know what we did anyway. All of them are from a non-religious kibbutz, and they know even less than we do about what goes on at the ceremony."

* "Our travel agent said that in order to conduct a bar- mitzvah celebration at Metzada, there is no need for tefillin. But we would very much like our son to put on tefillin on his bar-mitzvah day on that historical mountain. Please, tell us if he may put on tefillin at a ceremony at Metzada. As a rabbi, your surely understand how important it is for our son to put on tefillin at least once in his life."

* "Very important guests are invited to our sons bar- mitzvah, among them two grandfathers, a great-grandfather, and two great-uncles. We need aliyos for all of them. We know that in general, there are only three aliyos on a weekday. But we ask you to make an exception to the rule in honor of Randy's bar-mitzvah, because of the large group of VIP's from our family who will be attending. We need at least seven aliyos. If you can be considerate of us, without stretching the halocho too much, we would be very appreciative. If you can't do this, we would like you to call three people to each aliya, and let them recite the blessing together."

* "We saw a film of a bar-mitzvah celebration at the Kosel, and noticed that in the end they lifted up the bar- mitzvah boy on a chair, and danced with him. We would like to arrange for such a procedure at Mark's bar-mitzvah. But we don't have enough men to lift him up. We know that you arrange for a minyan when the family is small. Can you also arrange for some strong men to help us lift our son and dance with him? If this costs more, we'll be happy to pay the difference."

* "They warned us that beggars often interrupt the ceremonies at the Kosel and disturb the guests. How can we keep them away from our corner? Do you have any ideas?"

* "Is it possible to prepare a large sign with the name of our family? We don't know many of our Israeli relatives who will attend the ceremony, and it will be hard for them to identify us. Such a sign will be very helpful. What size do you suggest?"

* "We want to hold a small kiddush after the ceremony at the Kosel. We heard that the authorities do not condone serving food at the Kosel. But maybe we can do so nonetheless? Just a small snack, soft drinks, liquor, cakes, cookies, kugel, assorted fruits, pretzels, candies and nosh. Can you take care of this yourself as a caterer, or hire someone else who will do this?"

* "We know that it is customary to write a short prayer and to place it in one of the Kosel's cracks. We want to do this ourselves. Does the prayer have to be in Hebrew?"

* "We know that it is customary for the bar-mitzvah boy to recite the blessing over bread at the meal after the ceremony. Jason gets confused between the blessing over bread and the blessing over wine. Can you e-mail him that you'll stand next to him when he recites the blessing and help him? This will calm him."

* "We would like to know if we can decorate our corner of the Kosel, along the length of the mechitzah, with balloons so that the atmosphere will be as festive as possible? If this seems like a desecration of a sacred site, what about flowers? We want our bar-mitzvah celebration to be especially unique, and hope that you can help us."

* "We recently learned that there is a new custom at the Kosel. Instead of placing small prayers in the Kosel's cracks, people place money between the stones. Is that correct? If so, how much money must we place there?"

* "We know that our son will have to lay tefillin at the ceremony. Our son only wants to put on hand- tefillin, and not head tefillin, because that will ruin his hairdo, and will look bad in the film and the pictures. Is this a problem?"


All material on this site is copyrighted and its use is restricted.
Click here for conditions of use.