Mazel Tov!

My son was invited to a school friend's Bar Mitzvah last weekend. I took him to the ceremony and then dropped him off at a celebration that evening. Wow! It was so fun! I had never seen a Bar Mitzvah before and it was ... well, it was very different from what I've been accustomed to as far as religious ceremonies. I loved it.

What I heard in English was pretty uplifting. Being immersed in a religious culture very different from my own, I was fascinated as I looked around and tried to picture what it would be like to grow up as a Jew. I sensed a great deal of faith in the faces of many of the people I saw. Many of the people I saw clearly weren't there for show; they were there because they believed. That was encouraging to me.

I was also pretty impressed with the young man going through the ceremony. He had clearly worked his tail off to be able to read the Hebrew text in the Torah and I found myself feeling a little jealous. I wish I could read Hebrew.

The party in the evening was pretty incredible too. The parents of my son's friend had clearly spent an incredible amount of money to make their son feel special. And my son had a blast! He couldn't stop talking about it on the way home. Then he stayed up telling me and Emily more about the party. He estimated he knew about 20 of the kids at the party who were in his school.

I love living in a community with such diversity. It was a cool experience for me, but I thought how awesome for my son to be exposed to another religion, to realize how many of his friends were Jewish, and to hopefully keep the good feelings he had with him throughout his life.

In spite of the evil that's often done in the name of deity, I think most religions do a whole lot of good. I'm glad we have so many good religious people around us here in the south.