SED 16 - SR's bar-mitzvah

his entry is written at Ben-Gurion airport, on our way back to the USA, and uploaded after reaching Takoma Park again. This has been a whirlwind week, which culminated in SR's bar-mitzvah. I spent yesterday morning translating the speeches to English, for the benefit of the family members coming from South Africa and England. The celebrations began with supper at J's house, with the immediate family on both sides - a total of 21 people, many of whom are observant and therefore all kinds of things could or could not be done. J became progressively more frazzled beneath her calm facade over the 24 hours, and I think it is a very good thing indeed that she is taking tomorrow off work.

eumelia and I shared a room, and stayed up very late talking. This was a good thing for me, as she went home immediately after lunch today, and I was very glad of the extra time with her. The bar-mitzvah itself was lovely. SR is very musical and loves performing (he is the pianist in the local Conservatorium's classical trio), and read almost all of the weekly Torah portion, not just the maftir (final section) and haftarah (reading from the Prophets) that most boys do. I was given the honour of being called up for a section of the Torah reading together with A and S, and we received a very long section indeed. After the reading, SR gave a short sermon and then was bombarded with sweets. A was sorry that this was the first time he could not participate in the children's mad rush to gather the sweets, as he had his own bar-mitzvah last year.

After the service ended, there was food. Then there was lunch. Then my mother, my sister and my niece all gave speeches that embarrased SR to a greater or lesser degree. Then we went home and rested a bit (I confirmed that my mother was not being charged twice for the change in tickets and packed), then went back to J for tea and ate more. 

Now we are at the airport. We were able to change tickets at check in, and the boys are now sitting togeter on both legs of the the flight. I must say that I am impressed with United's customer service.