Free Republic

Thanks to hip-hop superstar Drake’s latest music video, there are now far more eyes focusing on Temple Israel’s bimah than there are even during the High Holidays. And even though the song’s lyrics are decidedly more profane than sacred, the Reform synagogue's president said he hoped the video would help Jewish youth connect to Judaism. The video, parts of which were filmed in the Miami shul’s sanctuary, purports to depict Drake’s “re-bar mitzvah,” showing the Jewish rapper reading from what appears to be a Torah. But the accompanying song, "HYFR" (Hell Yeah F***ing Right), has nothing to do with a...

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will head to Israel this week for his son's Bar Mitzvah celebration. The celebration may be moved from the Kotel (Western Wall) to an alternate location due to concerns that the ceremony might draw protests. In January, activists Baruch Marzel and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who serve as parliamentary aides to MK Michael Ben-Ari, wrote to Emanuel and suggested he avoid celebrating at the Kotel.

A Paramus middle school student was sent home Friday after he came to school dressed up as Jesus for Halloween. For a few hours, Alex Woinski was the messiah of West Brook Middle School, but like the real Jesus, Woinski was condemned, so to speak. "Sort of like a new remake of what supposedly happened," Woinski told CBS 2. Decked out in sandals, a robe, fake beard and thorns, the 13-year-old joined 500 other students at his school's Halloween celebration, and on this day, he was the chosen one - to go home. "It was offensive to some students," Woinski...

Last August, I was visiting my grandparents at their home in Los Angeles. I live in Moscow and travel often to the US, and I try to make it a priority to fly to L.A. at least once a year to visit. Sitting in the living room with my grandparents on that summer night, I inquired about a family member who was turning thirteen and whether he will be having a Bar Mitzvah, and how I could help him celebrate one. Grandma says to me, "Why are you worried about your cousin, if your own grandfather never had a Bar...

A man and his ex-wife are embroiled in a holy war over the issue of circumcising the couple's 12-year-old son. The Oregon Supreme Court is now considering the case of James Boldt, a family-law attorney who converted to Judaism in 2004. He seeks to have the minor surgery performed against the wishes of the boy's mother, Lia Boldt, who is Russian Orthodox. "It's the classic kind of decision a custodial parent would make," said James Boldt, according to the Oregonian newspaper. Lia Boldt, 45, filed for divorce in 1998, and though she initially won custody, James Boldt, who now lives...

Editor's note: The following commentary is adapted from an address by Rabbi Shmuley to his son Mendy in synagogue on Saturday, May 6, 2006. ------------------------------------------------------ Mendy, today is your Bar Mitzvah. As your father, I want to help inspire you on this momentous occasion with words that I hope will stay with you forever. In your Torah portion, you read God's seminal command, "Be holy, for I the Lord your God am Holy" (Leviticus 19:2). To be holy is to be set apart. The Sabbath is holy because its restfulness distinguishes it from the work days of the week. The...

MOSCOW, Russia – Another joyous occasion in Russia’s capital has benefited multiple children of the Moscow Jewish community. This Sunday, 15 students attending the ‘Achei Tmimim’ Day School network joined together for a life-changing celebration. The young enthusiasts eagerly underwent their Bar Mitzvah ceremony, for which many of their families, friends and teachers had gathered to mark this occasion. The Head of the School, Rabbi Kuravsky, spoke to the children at the event, expressing pride in their decision to finally become adults in the eyes of the Jewish community. He presented books to each of the children, after which they...

It may have taken 63 years but Herman Rosenblat is finally able to celebrate being a man. Rosenblat, formerly of Bay Terrace, received his Bar Mitzvah today at Congregation Beth Sholom Chabad in Mineola. Although most Jewish boys celebrate at age 13 -- the age when the child becomes responsible for himself under Jewish law -- Rosenblat was hardly in a position for balloons and streamers: the 76-year-old Polish immigrant spent his 13th year in a concentration camp during World War II. Rosenblat celebrated with about a dozen friends and local congregants, eating cookies and dancing the Hora. But his...

It was "beshert." The Yiddish term signifying "meant to be" was the word that often passed through the lips of those in attendance at Herman Rosenblat's bar mitzvah Thursday. They were referring not only to the celebration -- an event 63 years in the making -- but to his wife, Roma, and the amazing story of how they got together. Rosenblat, formerly of Bay Terrace, and now living in Florida, became a bar mitzvah at Congregation Beth Sholom Chabad in Mineola, with more than a dozen well-wishers in attendance. At age 76, he was one of the oldest to celebrate...

"This, by local standards, is a modest affair. Hundreds of New York bar mitzvahs cost $100,000 or more. Many top the quarter-million-dollar mark. If you're ready to spend that sort of money on a five-hour shindig for an eighth-grader, Pat James is the man to see. " "A few weeks ago, David H. Brooks, the CEO of a body-armor maker, reportedly spent millions on his daughter's bat mitzvah, renting out the Rainbow Room, which sits atop Rockefeller Plaza, and flying in the rapper 50 Cent, as well as Aerosmith, Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks." "There have been bar mitzvahs at...

British retail billionaire Philip Green has hired chart-topping R&B group Destiny's Child to perform at his son's bar mitzvah. The stars are set to entertain guests at the three-day event on the French Riviera estimated to have cost the Bhs and Top Shop boss £4m ($7.4m). Singer Justin Timberlake could also be performing, The Times reports. Mr Green is said to have chartered a plane to fly about 200 of his family's friends to the bash this weekend. The guests are being put up at the exclusive Hotel du Cap in Cannes, with the actual bar mitzvah itself expected to...

President Bush has implemented economic policies that resemble those of the Roman Empire, which forced the baby Jesus into homelessness on the night of his birth, former civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson said in a pre-Christmas rant late Thursday. "In the last [Bush] budget, we cut housing again, and that was Jesus' dilemma. In Bethlehem, his family ended up homeless," Jackson told MSNBC's Campbell Brown. "Rome was a wealthy country that left Jesus and Mary and Joseph, in a sense, homeless," he complained. "He was born an at-risk baby." The GOP bashing Democrat said that while Bush's reelection campaign...

We Jews are a funny people. We celebrate the weirdest things. Everyone's heard of end-of-the-school-year parties, graduation parties, retirement parties. But who ever throws a get-to-work party? Let me explain. Imagine that you have this dream job that's the envy of all your friends. Then, one day you receive a summons to the boss's office. The conversation goes something like this: Boss: "Have a seat." You: "Thank you." Boss: "You've been here -- what is it, twelve years now?" You: "Yeah, it's almost that already. You guys take such good care of me..." Boss: "We pay you a comfortable living...

He didn't get to read from the Torah. But Simon, donning a prayer shawl and yarmulke, was surrounded by family, furry friends and platters of bagels as the Coton de Tulear recently celebrated his "bark" mitzvah. "It's just another one of those things New York City dog owners do," said Simon's owner Beth Aronson, 27, a Manhattan sales executive. "He's a very socialized dog, and for him it was a happy occasion."

Israeli stereotypes of American Jews tend to center on the wealth and hedonism of their cousins across the ocean. It turns out that non-Jews here in America tend to feel the same way. Apparently non-Jewish adolescents in the United States are increasingly afflicted with a new problem: bat- and bar-mitzva envy. Laugh all you like, but this curious trend was the subject of a front-page article in The Wall Street Journal on January 14. In it, Journal staffer Elizabeth Bernstein reported that upscale non-Jewish kids are bummed out about the lavish parties their Jewish classmates are getting – and want...