Printer Friendly

Email to A Friend

Friday September 6, 2002

9/11 poses dilemma for September b'nai mitzvah here

JOE ESKENAZI
Bulletin Staff

As Moses peers off Mount Nebo in his dying moments, he glimpses his first, last and only vision of the Promised Land, a physical manifestation of the glory to come for the Jewish people. Yet this is not exactly a story that ends happily ever after.

"Moses is looking at the good things as he's dying; he can leave on a good note," said Julia Stein, who will be reading the section from the Book of Deuteronomy at her Saturday, Sept. 14 bat mitzvah at San Francisco's Reform Congregation Sherith Israel.

For Stein and a handful of other Bay Area teenagers, the timing of their b'nai mitzvah presents a daunting if not impossible task. With Rosh Hashanah just past, Yom Kippur and Sukkot to come and the one-year anniversary of Sept. 11, chaos in the Middle East and an erratic economy all occurring more or less simultaneously, how can a young speaker tie all of these loose ends together in his or her speech?

Stein sees Moses as "representing the Jewish people. I think the future definitely has some bright times, but I guess the Promised Land isn't all great."

Jennifer Goldman, whose bat mitzvah is also on the 14th, sees her Torah portion as "remembering the days of old," and feels a reference to Sept. 11 is appropriate.

"If I have kids, I'll probably tell them where I was when it happened. Actually, I was in Yosemite on a class trip, so it was quite a different experience for me. We didn't find out until a couple of days after," said Goldman, an eighth-grader at Hamlin School for Girls who attends San Francisco's Reform Congregation Emanu-El.

"There were a lot of tears and scared girls because people had relatives in New York. One girl's aunt worked in the towers. She was so nervous."

While Stein and Goldman have opted to tackle the pressing issues of the day, not every other young adult has chosen to do so. Jordan Blickman, who will celebrate his bar mitzvah Sept.

14 at Burlingame's Reform Peninsula Temple Sholom, said the idea did not occur to him.

Jenny Cohen, who will mark her bat mitzvah on Sept. 21 at Emanu-El, said she would focus her speech on Sukkot and personal experiences from past Sukkot celebrations.

But Stein said she couldn't help but mention the terror attacks, ongoing violence in Israel and other world woes.

"With my bat mitzvah date so close to Sept. 11 and all the things happening in the Middle East, I should be fortunate it's not happening directly to me. But it's still very unfortunate. It still does reflect on me, because I'm a Jew," said Stein, an eighth-grader at San Francisco's French-American International School.

"I don't think [Mideast violence] crosses my friends' minds all that much, but...I've been surrounded by Jews all of my life and a lot of these people, especially the rabbis, are very affected by it. That makes me feel it more."

If any positive message can be gleaned from terrorist violence, Stein said it causes one to appreciate life more. Plus, it's not happening here.

"I think it makes everyone look at the brighter things in life so they can appreciate everything," she said.

Did you find this article interesting? Subscribe to our FREE newsletter and you'll be notified each week when "J." goes online. We'll tell you about the most important stories of the week and give you a link to each one.

This page contains a BETA version of Amazon contextual links. They are marked by the dashed underline.  Your purchases support our site. At times they point to items which are not related to the actual link. Please alert us by email if you discover objectionable links.