Mazal tov Kai

Kai felt a bit nervous before his Bar Mitzvah, but also super excited, as he had been practising for over a year for the occasion. Everyone at the Shule has been very supportive of Kai and his learning 鈥� the Rabbi was fun and caring, with great jokes to liven the mood. Kai loved the proud look on his parents鈥� faces and seeing his friends and described having everybody there supporting him as 鈥渞eally nice鈥�. All his class mates and friends from different schools attended and for some, it was their first Bar Mitzvah, so a very special occasion all 鈥榬ound.

听Kai knew he was ready because he鈥檇 practised for such a long time. His favourite part of the proceedings was receiving his tallit 鈥� it鈥檚 blue and silver and made to look like his dad鈥檚. His granny and Zaide made it for him and ensured it was big enough that he would grow into it. Kai鈥檚 Parsha was about Yaakov and Esav, the two fighting brothers. He had taken from the Parsha, the message that it鈥檚 important to be nice to your siblings so that you don鈥檛 grow apart, rather you grow stronger together.

听Kai鈥檚 friends enjoyed a game of bubble soccer in the park 鈥� a game which I hadn鈥檛 come across before. His description of getting into a giant inflatable ball necessitated some research on my part just to be able to imagine it 鈥� but it looked and sounded fantastic. The post-Bar Mitzvah party at the Shule had a circus theme with diablos and a tiny clown bicycle. Kai was very grateful for the support that people at the Shule had provided and he hopes to keep up the regular shule attendance that he has enjoyed in the lead-up to his Bar Mitzvah.

I asked Kai whether he feels different now he is Bar Mitzvah and he said that in a way he feels as though a weight has been lifted off his shoulders because he was worried beforehand that he would make a mistake, but he didn鈥檛. In fact, it was a great success!