Bat Mitzvah Sisters
By Alice Koganova
After five exciting and adventure packed days, many of us were ready for a relaxed Saturday. While some of us in the group spent the morning catching a few hours of sleep or enjoying the breakfast buffet, a few of the girls were getting ready for something special. Just a few days into our trip our group trip leaders, Tracy and Natalie, informed the group that we had the opportunity to be Bar or Bat Mitzvah'd here in the holiest place in the world. Having such a special ceremony in Jerusalem was something many if us didn't want to pass up. With that said, six of us girls (Sarah, Lauren S., Stevie, Carla, Lexie, and me Alice) spent an hour or so that Saturday morning rehearsing Hebrew lines and picking our Hebrew names.
The ceremony was different from the kind you have when you turn 12 or 13, but the fact that we were doing this with about 40 new friends to witness made it special nonetheless. We all gathered in our room at the Jerusalem Gold Hotel and began with a quick discussion on Hebrew names. The Bat Mitzvah girls each took turns explaining our Hebrew names and reasoning behind choosing them. Ido then gave a quick speech to get the ceremony started and had Natalie call up each girl one by one to begin reciting Hebrew lines.
My favorite part about this ceremony was the chance for everyone in the group to hear each individual story of the girls getting Bat Mitzvah'd. Each of us shared why we decided to do this here, which made the ceremony very personal. Some of us never had the chance to do this while we were younger and just wanted to feel more connected to Judaism. A few of the girls had an ceremony at age 12, but wanted to do this for themselves with new friends to witness. Overall, it couldn't have gone any better! By the time it was over, all the nervousness prior was gone. The ceremony ended with the group throwing candies at us as a means of tradition, which was a tad painful but we got the point of it. The six of us girls walked out of the room feeling much closer to each other and happy to have gone through that together.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing and getting much needed down ttme with each other. Half of the group spent a few hours at a park in Jerusalem playing Frisbee and enjoying some sun while others continued to spend time at the hotel. By the time the sun went down, everyone was all dressed up and ready for a night out on Ben Yehuda street. There were bands or small groups of people playing live music as we walked through the streets looking for our next dinner spot. The streets were crowded with people looking for a nice sit down dinner or some quick shopping now that Shabbat was over. It was the perfect way to end the relaxing day before we began our trek to Tel Aviv the following morning.
