In 2020, Zachary turned 13. Our planning for his bar mitzvah was interrupted by Covid. He did have a small service and a Zoom get together, but no family could come to celebrate with him. We had also hoped to take a family trip to Israel in his honor, which did not happen. So when we realized he’d be celebrating his 17th birthday during our trip, we came up with a plan. His English birthday fell on the Hebrew 1st day of the month, which comes with a special prayer service and Torah reading, which Zachary happened to already know how to read. So we planned that whoever could join us at the Western Wall would do so! No one came to Israel specifically to join us, but a lot of our family happened to already be there, either because they live there or were visiting at the same time, so it worked out very nicely.
Because of my broken ankle, Dave, Gabbie, and I took a taxi, while the boys walked with my sister-in-law through the Old City. They also stopped to buy sunglasses! Eventually we all gathered together and found a place to hold the prayer service. There is a divider between the men’s and women’s sections and we were close to it, but since I couldn’t stand up on the bench, I couldn’t really take photos. Gabbie did take some and many of these are gathered from family.
It was very hot out so there was a lot of complaining!
This is Dave’s cousin’s daughter, who studied in Israel this year. She surprised us by coming.
Gabbie’s good friend from home also was in Israel for the year.
Simon led the first part of the service. My nephews and brother-in-laws are the other guys in the photos.
Zachary reading Torah:
Next to Zachary in this one is his good friend from home.
This was my view.
My nephew’s daughter.
More from others:
This guy was someone random who took part in their group. I thought Zachary’s face was funny in this picture.
After the prayer service, we tried to take a group picture. It was difficult for me to stay balanced on one foot so I was trying to hurry it along!
Then we went to a shaded area to have some pastries.
Who was there? L to R: Gabbie, her friend, me, Simon, brother-in-law, nephew, Zachary, sister-in-law, cousin, sister-in-law, nephew, brother-in-law, nephew, great-niece, Dave, and friend.
The kids went to eat some breakfast with their aunts and uncles while Dave and I took a taxi back to the hotel, but we met up with them after this!
Later that day, I stayed at the hotel while Dave went to buy food for Shabbat and the kids went shopping with their aunt. My sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and nephew also stayed at a nearby hotel for Shabbat.
The next day I mostly read, ate, and rested. Everyone else walked to my nephew’s house (the one wearing the suit) because he and his wife had a baby and they were having a get together in the baby’s honor. It was too hard for me to get there too. They brought me back desserts though!
On Saturday night, we got ice cream.
On the way back to the hotel, we heard the sounds of a protest, so we walked towards the noise to see what was happening. In America, you have people protesting for a ceasefire, with no regards to the hostages. In Israel, the protests are for a deal which will release the hostages, no matter what has to be given in exchange.
Around this time, Gabbie heard from her friend who we were going to meet up with – she and her family lived in Kansas for awhile and her mom was a great friend of mine. She was also in Israel this year and happened to be in Jerusalem that weekend. So we saw her for a minute and took a picture, which she sent to her mom and her mom sent to me!
Then we headed back to the hotel for the night!
So Zachary’s birthday and belated bar mitzvah celebration went well!
