On Shabbat 18 Cheshvan, we celebrated a Bar Mitzvah of a young man, Lorenzo Farkeng, now Melech ben Avraham. His mother Muriel Koucoi brought him to our community when he was a little boy and we have watched him grow up into a very fine young man. We as adults hope that he sees us as good examples even when we misbehave. It is my prayer, as his rabbi, that when he sees something wrong in me that he would understand that the rabbi is also human with faults. In that way, he will know that he has the opportunity to improve in the same way that I as an older man can also improve. In the larger Jewish community many young men leave the synagogues right after their Bar Mitzvah seeing it more as a time to party and to receive gifts. Sadly, they hang up their tallit and rarely return. They do not understand that they have taken a great and very important step in becoming an adult and that they have the opportunity to set an example to others by truly being a “son of the Commandment”. Welcome Lorenzo to the house of Israel.
Lorenzo’s last time under the chuppah with the children.
Rabbi and mother Muriel place his first tallit on Lorenzo.
Lorenzo prepares to read his portion Vayera
Lorenzo did an excellent job reading his portion and his speech was good enough for the UN.
Muriel could not have been more proud of her son!
The sweet table was fabulous but the most amazing was the cake made by Anna S.
