G 114Aittatit4t6 fet Okie/te aeratet•944/! • $ea at far ??at Mituoilkwiteh Ferseetraiii6 • Cetvi,it, CaitraOtt • Gat-rue G-t.ftb • We-Kdtxfa Weddimt • 214(4.41)At atttihwtet • - ab6, AKRAte CHANGING THE WORLD from page 67 32644 Franklin Rd. Franklin 248.539.7705 Soft-serve, Granita, Sundae Bars, Special-Requests Rachel Warnecke Owner West Broom.* Cd; WI 48324 Phone: 248-683-2813 frozencireandfcg ao C. corn Erozen Dreams, L. La Turning your coo( party into the hottest event of the year! deli trays lawash roll ups mini sandwiches three foot submarines - plus coleslaw, potato salad and dill pickles CM Kosher 25270 Greenfield Rood, Oak Park, MI 48237 P.248.967.1161 F.248.967.1605 n /01,44 -t D„, fi",v,ZIATZ,P1%-t Df in A- tat] rDr_is Save the Date! Weddings • Showers and Rehearsal Dinners Menus and Programs • Bar/Bat Mitzvahs Photo Invites and Photo ThankYou Notes Spectacular Seating Charts and Frames Seating Cards and Napkins • Party Invitations Fabulous Papers Printed Same Day RIN and then...Birth Announcements La Mirage Center • 29555 Northwestern Highway • Southfield, MI 48034 68 248-356-2454 Debbie Goldfine Weisserman, Maureen Weisserman Mansfield Now • Secure party location • Check security arrangements • Select entertainment (disc jockey or band) • Select photographer • Select videographer 11 Months Before • Review accomodations for out-of- town guests • Create list of out-of-towners • Request a block of rooms from hotel of choice • Interview caterers 10 Months Before • Determine Shabbat dinner and Sunday brunch plans • Create a guest list with complete addresses 8 Months Before • Send a "save the date" card to out-of-town guests • Begin looking at invitations 7 Months Before • Decide on invitation wording • Order invitations 6 Months Before • Order kippot. Check out Jewish.com or your synagogue's gift shop. • Plan menu • Finalize decorations 3 Months Before • Weigh invitation at post office to determine postage and purchase postage • Begin calligraphy or computer print- ing of invitation envelopes • Order imprinted accessories or party giveaways • Plan for guest welcome bags for out- of-town guests • Mail out-of-town invitations 2 Months Before • Mail in-town invitations • Finalize catering details and floor plan 3 Weeks Before • Conduct final clothing fittings • Assign tables • Finalize seating arrangements Weekend Before • Provide photographer with list of special photo requests Monday Before • Create seating cards Thursday Before • Deliver welcome bags to hotel Hand and Computerized Calligraphy 3/24 2005 knit? If they do, then offer them the mitzvah of making the challah cover for the simcha. You will have a spe- cially commissioned work of art for your simcha. How many people can say that? Level six: Invite the senior citizen who has made the challah cover to the dinner as your guest and intro- duce her to everyone as the artist who made the challah cover that is being used at this event for the very first time. If you do that, you will have two mitzvot for the price of one: You will have added a lovely new work of rit- ual art to the simcha and you will have fulfilled the mitzvah of bring- ing out the radiance in the face of our elders. And the challah cover that made its debut at this event can become a fam- ily treasure to be taken out again at the engagement party, at the wedding and, if we are fortunate, at the sim- chah of the bar mitzvah child's own son's bar mitzvah. And the child will have learned some important lessons both about how we treat bread and about how we treat old people. This is just one small example of the kind of innovative thinking that is found on almost every single page of Siegel's book. If even a simple chal- lah can provide so many different opportunities for "Mitzvah izing," then so can every other detail and every other aspect of the experience. Every detail - the invitation, the mitzvah project, the d'var torah, the centerpiece — is an opportunity. No matter how small a detail it may be, it has the power to become a method for doing good and, if it does, then the benefits to the bar or the bat mitzvah child and to everyone else who is present are very great. There is an old joke that you have probably heard that explains why we need this book so much: An exhausted parent says after his child's simchah: "If bar mitzvah is going to get any more expensive, I hope that the next one runs away and becomes bar mitzvah at a justice of the peace." For that parent and for all those who understand what he is saying, this book is a precious resource. So if you know any family that is approaching these days of stress and trauma, get them this book. ❑ Bar/Bat Mitzvah Planning Checklist 941350