Due to the war, Grandpa wasn't able to become a Bar Mitzvah at the age of 13. Since the Torah says that a "normal" life span is 70 years, many Jews believe that if you are able to live to be 83 years old (13 years past your "normal" life), you can either have a 2nd Bar Mitzvah or a 1st if you missed your chance.
Allan threw a party on Friday night to commemorate this event. Since he is good buds with the owners and management he got the menu personalized. The prices were also removed so Henry wouldn't feel the Jewish guilt and could order whatever he wanted for his special day.
This was Xander's first time in a restaurant and he slept most of the time. Mama happily kept him quiet and content.
The next morning, at Temple, we were there a while before the service started for family pictures. Xander cried for some of the photos, but slept thru the whole ceremony.
Family shot minus a bunch of Friedman's.
Grandpa with the Rabbi who filled in for Rabbi Weiner who is on sabbatical.
Jeremy, Selena and Anthony all had a small part. Tough to see in the picture but Anthony had Xander with him during the prayer. That meant a lot to Henry, too.
One of the funniest parts of the Bar Mitzvah was that Grandpa's Yamacha/Kippah kept falling off. It sat at the side of his head as you can see and eventually he noticed and fixed it. Next time, a bobby pin would be helpful.
Nana and Papa were invited to the after party. Nana normally doesn't allow pictures to be taken and since this is a good one, we had to put it on the blog.
Our table was clearly the coolest. Jordan, Jonathan, Josh, Samara, Anthony and Amy were all there too of course. Xander was safely at home - this was Mom and Dad's first night out with a sitter! Thank you to Lynnette for taking such wonderful care of our little one.
A whole bunch of speeches were made in honor of Grandpa. Rob, Jeff and Debbie, David Friedman, Jeremy, Selena, Anthony, Amy and Josh all made speeches. This is a picture of Grandpa and Grandma enjoying Jeff's speech. Jeff cried during his speech, and so did Amy due to post prego hormones... she also made most everyone else cry too...
The restaurant made a cake. It is always funny to see a restaurant try and write a message.
"Happy belated birthday" = nice non-Jewish way of saying "Congrats on your Bar Mitzvah."
Not sure what was happening here.....'nuf said.
The Sunday following the Bar Mitzvah, Larry and Debbie hosted a brunch for Grandpa, Grandma and their friends. Before everyone showed up, these hooligans decided to wake board and swim across the shortest part of the lake. Jeremy made it going slow and steady. Jordan got tired as he started off way too strong.
Grizzly Adams aka Joshua.
Xander enjoyed the party, though he slept thru a bunch of it. He is so damned cute, right?
