One Boy's Bar Mitzvah
David Pacific
By Michael R.
At age 13, I was living in Irondequoit and going to Temple Emmanuel. My bubbe (grandmother), who lived on Hoeltzer Street, off Joseph Avenue, was an Orthodox Jew. She belonged to the Morris Street Shul (synagogue), where I would go for the High Holidays with bubbe, my mother, and Aunt Lena. We sat upstairs. My father's family were Orthodox Marxists - no shul (synagogue) for them. A neutral Bar Mitzvah venue was required. Enter Congregation Bnai Israel.
I learned my Haftorah (religious readings) from a 78 LP record, and with fear and trembling became a man. My father stumbled through his lines, and then we proceeded out to Temple Emmanuel for the reception, where I became a fountain pen.