2015 - The Year My Little Man becomes a Jewish Man

We got THE date in the spring of 2012.  And now, the DATE is approaching.  And now, I can call this year, the year of the Bar Mitzvah.  The date - May 30, 2015.  The year my son is called to the Torah to become a Jewish adult like the rest of his family.  The date that we all hear him chant his Haftorah and the Torah.  The date that family and friends will fly and drive to come and hear my baby become a Jewish adult.

My son will be counted as a Jewish adult after that, which means when our family attends Minyan, we are a family of three Jewish adults.  My son is expected to fast on Yom Kippur.  My little man becomes a Jewish man.

Mark started Religious School at Temple Emanuel when he was five, but his Jewish education started before that.  We would chant Shema to him every night and when he became old enough, he chanted with us.  We attended Tot Shabbat with him and later Shabbat Alive (which we all continue to enjoy).  We did Shabbat at home on Friday nights complete with candles, wine and homemade challah.  When he was born it became a goal of mine to have Shabbat at least three times every month.

And as soon as we got THE DATE, I started to plan.  We booked the venue, the caterer, the photographer, the DJ and the hotel.  And now we are getting into finalizing the invitations.  We started looking for a Tallis.  We started looking into purchasing Kipot.  I am working on the hotel bags and the centerpieces.  We have dates to start looking at new suits for the boys and dresses for the girls.  Mark has started his Bar Mitzvah project.  Mark will be writing a sermon. 

The day is coming, and when that date comes, I will be ready.