My daughter has been attending religious Hebrew school for the past six years in order to become a bat mitzvah, which means she has received her training to follow the Jewish mitzvots and is committing herself to her religion and traditions now as an adult. There are over 600 mitzvots or commandments. It’s an inside joke to actually expect a 13-year old to follow these many commandments. (Actually can anyone? That’s a lot!) It’s a big deal to become a bar/bat mitzvah in the Jewish community. On my daughter’s big day, she is called up to the bimah in front of the congregation to recite her prayers in Hebrew and participate in the Torah reading. 

We belong to a reformed Jewish temple. The reform and reconstructionist Jews are more tolerate and open to interfaith families and liberal views. The conservative and orthodox Jews follow strict and stricter rules, respectively. As an outside observer, the reform and reconstructionist Jews remind me of the Samaritan Jews during Jesus’ times. I’m sure like in Jesus’ times, they butt heads too. 🙂 

For the reformed Jews in the northeast America, the big day is a culmination of months or years of planning a huge celebration. Our temple gave us her bat mitzvah date two years ago. I knew all this (supporting her Jewish education, throwing a big party, etc) was what God has lead us to do but because party planning is not my natural gifting I’m finding it stressful. Actually every Jewish mom who has planned this party find it stressful. It’s an exclusive club when we gather to talk about our experiences. I didn’t think I would join them in commiserating and complaining but recently I was convicted by the Holy Spirit that I was. I quickly repented and asked for help to not do this again. Praise God for his gentle convictions! 

Our temple gave to the parents the book, “Putting God on the guest list: How to reclaim the spiritual meaning of your child’s bar or bat mitzvahs” by Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin. Upon receiving the book a friend jokingly said she didn’t have room for God on her guest list. I smiled as I realized how true her statement was. The party planning has taken over the spiritual meaning. I’m almost done reading this book and it gave me much background information on b’nai mitzvahs and Jewish history. 

My daughter’s bat mitzvah is coming up on February 20th. She’s really nervous because she’s shy and doesn’t like being the center of attention. There’s so much to do in our last final stretch. I’m also given a great opportunity to write and say the parental blessing on the bimah in front of the congregation. My husband is not religious. He might be considered an atheist since he believes in the Big Bang theory of creation and evolution. Therefore he asked me to do the blessing. Please pray for my writing of the blessing prayer, and somehow that every person will be touched in their hearts by God. To be respectful, I can’t say the name Jesus on the bimah. 

Recently my Jewish friend told me how much she respected me for supporting my daughter to become a bat mitzvah. She’s known me for over ten years and knew that I’ve turned heavily into Christianity past few years. Perhaps my husband and his family feel the same way too. She really encouraged me and showed me that there’s a greater purpose in all this by God. 

One day last week I was tense in the midst of planning the bat mitzvah. When I took time to pray I realized that I must continually release this big day up to God. He’s the one that orchestrated and planned for this event. It’s His day for my daughter. I’m simply God’s servant. And so I will do my best to prepare and get ready for the big day but ultimately it’s His day. 

Whenever I face a challenge I surround myself with bible verses. The Holy Spirit gave me this one verse when I was stressed out:

Psalm 32:8(NIV)
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

Please keep our family in your prayers and for the weather to be ideal on that day. Thank you so much for your support and prayers!! I will update you on how our event goes after. I’ll post my comments right below this same blog. 

2/22/16-

Thank you so much for your prayers for my daughter’s bat mitzvah! Your support and prayers were felt and experienced not only by me, but I believe by everyone. The last week leading up to this day was filled with unexpected family dramas and boy, did I trip and fall on my face A LOT! My old negative traits resurfaced numerous times under pressure and stress. Despite it all, God blessed our family with amazing warm weather (61 degrees!), smooth and grace-filled service, and a fun-filled party. God is so good. Everyone enjoyed themselves, and most importantly all the family tensions went away and we are all back on track in our relationships. Praise God!!! Thank you so much for your prayers and support! It meant so much to me this past week!

My Jewish friend said to me that God gave us an amazing weather because I’m a good Jew and a good Christian! Lol!! Also, everyone were deeply touched by my parental blessing speech, especially my Jewish family and friends! Wow!!

James 1:17 (NKJV)

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.