American Bar and Bat Mitzvah Celebrations in Jerusalem

The silent, somber stones of Jerusalem’s Western Wall echo songs sung by the young, GAP-clad American teenagers.

The kids traveled thousands of miles, from their soft homes and plush synagogues to this harshly conflicted city. Days ago, an East Jerusalem Arab bulldozed to death three Jews traveling on a Jerusalem street. Months ago, another East Jerusalem Arab shot and killed eight Jews studying at a Jerusalem school. Fortunately, the taunt tension, which radiates through other areas of the city, dissipates here and now, under July’s warm sun and Jerusalem’s morning breeze, among the Kotel’s heavy stones and the Americans’ cheerful chorus.

These young Jews have come with their families to Israel to celebrate their bar and bat mitzvahs and connect to their heritage. As they traveled around the country, they heard, saw, touched and felt the oppression and heroism, destruction and building, pain and joy felt by their Jewish ancestors and Israeli cousins. Now they stand before these ancient rocks, that have witnessed this Jewish history, with a deepened sense of identity, heightened pride at being connected, and strengthened desire to serve as a link in this four thousand year old chain.

The rabbi calls Niki Cohen, Mark Gold, Danielle Hirsch, and Brian Stein to read from the Torah. Their parents, their video cams, and the stones look on. Neither their braces nor their Yankee accents interfere with their chanting of the Hebrew text. Today they feel strong and resolute.

Jonah Levine lifts the Torah. He wobbles with the weight of it, but then the fathers step in to help steady it in his arms. And in further support, everyone sings together “And this is the Torah that Moses gave to us.”

These all-American kids who flew to Israel last week will board their plane home tomorrow as all-American and all-Jewish kids. And from now on -- when they break a glass at their weddings, give Hebrew names to their children, and bring those children to Jerusalem for their bar and bat mitzvahs – they will carry uplifting memories contained in Jerusalem’s weighty stones.