Kate's Bat Mitzvah Fiesta

Sunday began with other Bat Mitzvah-related chores. As we had been unable to photograph the actual worship services that took place on Friday night and Saturday morning, we met at the synagogue at one o'clock Sunday afternoon to re-enact parts of it for Bill Blanke's digital camcorder. Rabbi Lichtenfeld could not attend because he was attending a wedding out of town. Thus, in our videos, the Torah Reader and rabbi are conspicuously absent.

Kate wore her hair down as she had Friday night, but refused to wear her expensive Ann Taylor suit for any of the photos. Instead, she wore the attractive separates that she had worn on Friday night. She ran through many parts of both services in order, so that the poor videographer--who speaks no Hebrew--would be able to piece them together in a reasonable order in his final video. However, she tended to leap into and out of the Hebrew without any pause in between the English and the Hebrew, so editing will be particularly challenging.

As well as taking photos in both the chapel (to represent Friday night) and the sanctuary (to represent Saturday), we took some additional footage in front of an attractive willow in front of the synagogue property.
We also took some family shots in the sukkah, the large open wooden structure where Joel and I exchanged our vows.
Zach and his mom gamely tagged along for the photographic shoot. Next we hurried to J.C.Penney's, where my daughter-in-law Amy had arranged for Kate to get her hair done in preparation for the party.

Kate had her hair temporarily straightened with a straightening iron. She treated us to cappucino. We additionally tested our guests' patience with the requisite trip to PetWorld, where I showed them where I work, introduced them to Skye, an adoptable cat with whom I have fallen in love, and showed off Kate and her boyfriend--who were incredibly cute together--to my co-workers. After a trip to the nail salon for a French manicure for Kate, we all returned home to change.
While I drove around with Zach, his mom, and Kate, Joel collected the special fiesta balloons and made sure that the catering staff and disc jockey could get into the Social Hall. The bright balloons in the shapes of birds, dolphins, and flowers added a wonderful tropical tone. The new dimmer switches in the Social Hall did much to improve its suitability for parties.

I had initially thought Kate's chosen outfit for the party to be unsuitable to wear anywhere on the synagogue grounds, as it looks so much like lingerie. I was outvoted, however, so Kate enjoyed strutting her stuff all in black with what she called her "porn star shoes."


Joel counted about 20 teenagers at the party. Many of them were kids from Kate's school, so we were happy to meet them. We danced the hora, and Kate was carried around in a chair.

There was a hula-hoop contest. We actually broke open only one of the pinatas.

The kids did plenty of line dancing.


Shawn the disc jockey had brought props for the kids to wear while dancing to "Y.M.C.A." and they were widely used. He brought a computer game that involves tapping out patterns in a foot pad according to directions projected onto a large screen.



Joel danced with energy I had not seen him exhibit in years. None of the adults participated in the karaoke--probably because there was no alcohol served. But we did a mean "Time Warp," and toward the end, we sang as a group, off-microphone.

Oddly enough, Kate and many of the girls repeatedly wantered off into the Ladies Room en masse to talk "away from the boys." However, they were in good spirits, and Kate said she enjoyed her party very much.