Sinai Temple is blessed with approximately 100 B’nai Mitzvah each year. The clergy literally watch these children grow. From singing bim bam on a pre-school carpet to providing deep Jewish education in our schools, the children grow in both body and soul.

As we celebrate our son’s Bar Mitzvah this Shabbat, we are often asked, “What is it like to prepare your own child for this day?” The answer is, “It take a village.”

Each teacher, each coach, each administrator, each Rabbi and Cantor, each mentor, and each member of this sacred community have taken a part in raising Sinai Temple’s children. 

Beyond the Bar Mitzvah lessons and the celebration preparation, I took my son to shop for his Bar Mitzvah suit. In early June, we found the perfect one and the perfect size. A month later, after trying it on, we had to get a new one as he had grown so much since summer camp. A month later, we went through the same process, again returning to buy a third suit because he grew out of the second one.

And yet, I marveled at what was happening. We may grow out of our suits, but we never grow out of our Jewish identity. Instead, we only grow more and more into who we are as Jews. A Bar Mitzvah is just a moment, an acknowledgment of what it took to get here, and it is a hope for what is to come.

 We could not have arrived at this moment without all of you, and we look forward to the journey ahead.