Dear Readers,
Probably 95% (I made up the number, it could be more) of us celebrate our simchas on our home turf. For myriad reasons, however, some choose to have destination events. One popular place, especially for b’nai mitzvot, is Israel. As such, we feature two articles about celebrating there.
In early November I received a message through the Jewish News website from Natalie Abraham, an event planner in Israel. She sent a link to her video https://youtu.be/d6MkSbOZ0Uc (watch it, it’s fun!) and I immediately knew I wanted to include her in this edition of Mazel Tov.
In December, Benita Watts, operations manager at the Sandler Family Campus, fulfilled a dream and a promise and took her family to Jerusalem for her son’s Bar Mitzvah.
But as I mentioned earlier, most of us celebrate at home in our own synagogues. Rabbi Enid C. Lader writes about a creative solution to training b’nai mitzvah students that engages more members of a congregation. It’s an idea that can be implemented anywhere.
By the way, if you wonder why Jews tend to say Mazel Tov!, you might want to consider Rabbis Aron Margolin and Levi Brashevitzky of Chabad of Tidewater’s latest course, The Jewish Course of Why, which explores such questions.
Mazel Tov! are two words that hardly anyone ever tires of hearing. I hope you hear them over and over!
Terri Denison
Editor