Washington Jewish Week

by Aaron Leibel
Arts Editor

Studies show that most American Jews have never traveled to Israel. If you are among their number, I unhesitatingly and enthusiastically recommend that you visit the Jewish state.

 But my experience living in Israel would make me hesitate to advise planning a bar or bat mitzvah here and celebrating it in the Jewish state, the subject of this book. Those ceremonies are important and complex social occasions. There are simply too many family, personal and logistical details to plan long-distance and too many things that could go wrong. Unless Israel has gone through a complete metamorphosis in the past 10 years, it is not set up - neither in terms of organization and nor employee attitudes - to deliver the kind of services that Americans would expect their bar or bat mitzvah child and their guests to receive.

My misgivings notwithstanding, the description of the Israeli bar mitzvah of Deborah Rosenbloom's son in this book's first chapter is appealing. Distant relatives flying in from around the world, taking a camel ride in the desert, placing a handmade pottery bowl in the rooms of all the guests as a memento of the celebration - it all sounds great. And we are reminded, "...we like the combination of Bible and the land of Israel. This is where it happened and why Israel is the perfect location to celebrate this milestone in the Jewish life of a child or adult. In Israel, G-d does not have to be added to the guest list. He is a permanent member of every minyan."

 But Rosenbloom, on of the book's authors, tells us that her son's bar matzvah coincided with her husband's sabbatical, and she and her family spent five months in Israel. Being there makes the whole operation much less complex.

If you're still determined to have your child's bar or bat mitzvah in Israel, this book is a phenomenal resource. Well-organized, it presents answers to many obvious, and even more not-at-all obvious, questions.

 And it's full of tips. For example, ask if the rental fee for a synagogue or museum is tax deductible. If you choose the three-day package at Neot Kedumim Biblical Landscape Reserve, your child 's Torah portion can be written on parchment by a scribe for you. Or, if you decide to hold the ceremony in a rustic field school run by the Israel Society for the Protection of Nature, you may want to put young cousins together in children's rooms and give adults their own rooms.

Best of all, this book is full of sources - from "rent-a-rabbi" to ancient synagogues in national parks to "Torah tie-in adventures," all replete with names, address, telephone numbers and (where appropriate) faxes and e-mail addresses.

I am still not sure about the advisability of Americans moving their bnai mitzvah ceremonies 6,500 miles to Israel, but I am convinced that those who disregard my warnings should come armed with a copy of this book.

If determined to have a bar/bat mitzvah in Israel, this book is a phenomenal resource.