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The Bar Mitzvah Personal Recollections Many of us have interesting stories about the times that we became Bar or Bat Mitzvah. This was often a seminal time in our lives, often a time of celebration, sometimes bittersweet. We often remember such occasions as these in a sentimental way, as this marked an important time in our lives when we were supposed to reach the status of an adult. It was also a time that gave our parents and other family members great joy. Alex Hecht, a Holocaust survivor from Balassagyarmat, Hungary, tells of the time right before the start of World War II when he became a Bar Mitzvah: "I had my bar mitzvah in a synagogue, and in the synagogue I belonged to the choir at that time. I had a nice voice and my friends called on me to sing... And I remember something that I will never forget. My parents prepared a little party for my bar mitzvah’s occasion, and I found a little bottle. It wasn’t a little bottle, it was a liter bottle. And I smelled it, and I tasted and smelled cherry. It was a cherry liqueur. So I tasted a little. I said, “Oh, gee, that’s so good.” And I was having quite a bit of it. And when I was called up to the Torah to say my bar mitzvah and the Haftorah, I was so good. I was afraid before. I said to myself, “How will I survive?” Nevertheless, that helped me and they congratulated me after, that I did so well. And I remember that I had zigzagged as I walked up (laugh) to the beamer." |
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