THE NEW BAR MITZVAH
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motive triumphant.
That is not a child speaking
and the implications of the
response are not restricted to
the Bar Mitzvah illustration.
The refusal to tithe is part of
a money culture that will not
do anything without profit. It
is a consequence of condition-
ing the child to study, to be
good, to help out through the
allurement of bribery. But if
everything we do is
motivated by profit, our faith
is bank rupted.
The appeal to place limits
on the excess of Bar/Bat
Mitzvah celebrations is made
not only to the parents but to
the young people who are to
be inducted into the tradition.
The youngsters are B'nai
Mitzvah, children subject to
moral imperatives. They are
B'nai Deah — children of
discernment, knowing right
from wrong. They are accord-
ing to Jewish law responsible
for commercial contracts.
They are eligible to pray and
read the Ibrah on behalf of
the congregation. Their vows
are valid. They are not "kids."
Conscience, according to the
rabbis, is cultivated by the
thirteenth year. Our
youngsters are not blind or
deaf and they must not be
mute. They have a say in the
way their coming of age
celebration is expressed. They
must know there are people
less fortunate than they
are —developmentally disabl-
ed, homeless people, frighten-
ed people, abandoned by
society. They must be shown
there are people without the
means to pursue their educa-
tion and, administrations
forever cutting down on
welfare programs, training
programs, food programs.
Their help is needed to
create another ambience for
our rejoicing. They must be
enlisted to struggle against
those who conspire to have
them keep up with the
Cohens, to resist the flaunt-
ing of wealth, to oppose those
who would turn their Bar/Bat
Mitzvah into gorgies out of
Duddy Kravetz, Marjorie
Morningstar and Goodbye
Columbus, to fight against
those who regard modesty for
the sake of charity as "cheap."
They must be instructed that
showing off is "cheap";
gaudiness is "cheap";
wastefulness is "cheap." What
is not "cheap" but large-
spirited is to provide blankets
for the unsheltered, food for
the hungry, scholarships to
Jewish camps for those who
can't afford it, tithing to
Mazon, concern for Jews en-
trapped in Soviet Jewry and
Ethiopia.
The Bar/Bat Mitzvah rite
of passage can open up a
world of meaning to the
youngster. Meaning in their
studying, in their choice of
vocation or profession, in
their talent for living. They
must be taught through
precept and conduct that be-
ing a Jew is to be enlarged,
that their horizons are ex-
panded beyond the shrivell-
ing shopping malls. They
must be taught to respect
themselves as children of pro-
phets who gave the world,
Western and Eastern civiliza-
tions, the idea of a G-d who
cares for the weak and is
angry with the callous and
cries with the dispossessed.
The Bar and Bat Mitzvah
has in our times become a
major event in the life-cycle of
Jews. It can become a sacred
event, a significant transition
from childhood to mature
Jewish adulthood. 0
Rabbi Schulweis is rabbi of Valley
Beth Shalom in Encino,
California.
The Ultimate
Bar Mitzvah
z immerman, the
big cloak-and-
suiter, wanted to
have the biggest bar
mitzvah of all time for his
son. So he mapped out a
safari to Africa and
chartered six DC-8's for
his guests, and another
six planes for the hun-
ting and camping equip-
ment, food and drink.
Everyone piled aboard
and all the planes flew in
formation to equatorial
Africa. There, Zimmer-
man hired five hundred
native pack-bearers and
a dozen guides, cooks and
a master chef. Then the
huge procession started
to wind through the
dense jungle.
Suddenly the entire
company came to a halt.
Zimmerman, who was
playing pinochle with a
few of the guests on top of
an elephant in the rear of
the long line, called out,
"What's holding us up?"
And the word was
relayed back: "There's
another bar mitzvah
ahead of us!"
Reprinted with the publisher's
permission, from
"Encyclopedia of Jewish
Humor," compiled and edited
by Henry D. Spalding.
Jonathan David Publisher,
New York, 1976.