2011 24. Tischri 5772 -Schabbat Bereschit-: Unser erster Bar Mizwa
Es war ein ganz besonderer Tag für Avery, seine Familie, Kantorin Jalda und uns alle:unser erster Bar Mizwa.
Familie, Freunde der Familie, Avery´s Freunde und Lehrer der John F. Kennedy Schule waren gekommen, um im Betsaal des ehemaligen Jüdischen Waisenhauses in Berlin-Pankow Avery´s ersten Aufruf zur Tora zu feiern.
Er war der erste Bar Mizwa in diesem Raum seit der Schliesssung des Jüdischen Waisenhauses durch die Nazis und der Deportation der Kinder in die Vernichtungslager 1940.
Die Holzdecke des Betraums blieb erhalten und auch die Nische des ursprünglichen Toraschreins ist noch gut zu erkennen.
Welch ein mächtiges Zeichen für die Zukunft.
Mazel tow, lieber Avery, wir sind sehr stolz auf Dich. In Deiner grandiosen D´rascha spiegelt sich lebendiges, junges Judentum wider. Dein Bar Mizwa Projekt und die Geschichte Deiner Familie fügen sich nahtlos in die Tradition dieses Hauses ein. Aber lassen wir an diesem Punkt Averys Mutter Donna und Avery selbst mit seinem Bar Mizwa Projekt zu Wort kommen:
A German American Jewish Celebration
Posted on October 28, 2011 in Donna´s blog Full Circle
A boy becomes an adult and reclaims his family’s place on the soil from which his ancestors fled two generations ago. Berlin’s former Jewish orphanage, with its historic prayer hall, marks the first bar mitzvah since the Shoah. Ohel Hachidusch, a congregation outside Berlin’s mainstream Jewish community, embraces its first son of the commandments. A father weeps to see his first-born step with confidence into adulthood. A mother aches with joy as she stands on the bima, the living link between the father she’s lost and her son who is his namesake.
These were the heavy layers of symbolic meaning that enveloped Avery’s bar mitzvah last weekend. But the deep significance of the occasion didn’t keep us from having a fun and rowdy celebration. Avery got hammered with German and American candy at the end, and sustained a pretty strong hit on the forehead from a rock hard treat thrown by his little brother. I think Avery and one of his buddies also got hammered with a secretly made potion of wine and iced tea!
Avery chose to have his coming of age on the anniversary of my father’s bar mitzvah. He wore the tallit (prayer shawl) my father wore 69 years ago when he was first called to the Torah. But as the service drew to a close Olivia dazzled us all by presenting her brother with a beautiful silk tallit she made by hand for him. As Cantor Jalda said, “Avery should step into the future wearing his own tallit, not schlepping the burden of his grandfather on his shoulders!”
It was a day of profound peace and joy for me. As my son chanted his Torah portion in a clear and resonant Hebrew that apparently carried no trace of an American accent, I saw the beauty of a ritual that ties all Jews together. Sharing that ritual with our mostly non-Jewish friends from Berlin (as well as our family from Amsterdam and two dear friends from the U.S.) gave us a sense of belonging in our new community so far away from Montana. We are indeed a “German American Jewish family” that is comfortable following our beliefs in both countries that we call home.
Text by Donna Swarthout
Photos courtesy of Bill Slaton.
Avery´s Bar Mizwa Projekt:
Stolperstein for Meta
For my bar mitzvah, I chose a project to make the world a little better place. After a trip to Southern Germany where I learned a lot about my family history, I decided to help my family create a memorial for one of our relatives who was killed in the Holocaust. We chose to have a Stolperstein made for my great great aunt Meta Adler. Stolpersteins are brass stones set in the ground to remember individual Holocaust victims.
I´d like to tell you a little bit about Meta. She was born in the small village of Altwiedermus in 1894. She was neither pretty nor very smart, she never married, and she worked as a maid. Because she could not successfully answer questions during her immigration examination, she was denied permission to immigrate to America with the rest of her family. So, in 1938-1939 the Adlers immigrated to America, leaving Meta behind. She then lived in Frankfurt until she was deported in 1942. In her memory, the stone will be laid in her birthplace of Altwiedermusthis summer.
Text: Avery Swarthout
Am Schluss feierten wir Avery mit einem Mazal Tow im Bonbon-Regen.
Danach genossen wir Gaby Nonhoffs köstliches Buffet.
Alle "Ohelistas" haben an diesem Schabbat Bereschit dankbar an den Erew des 12. Kislew 5770 zurückgedacht. Da fand in genau diesem Betsaal die erste Toralesung seit der Shoa statt: nämlich das Torafest von Ohel Hachidusch. Die Shir Tikvah Gemeinde in Troy/Michigan hat uns ihre Beth Jacob Tora als Schenkung zur Verfügung gestellt.
Gemeinsam mit zahlreichen Mitgliedern dieser Gemeinde feierten wir in diesem Betsaal die Rückkehr der wahrscheinlich aus dem heutigen Tschechien stammenden Tora nach Europa. Dies war der Beginn einer neuen Ära für Ohel Hachidusch.
Tora - Parascha Bereschit - im Anfang:
Unser erster Bar Mitzwa kommt aus den USA wohin sein Großvater 1938 floh.
Er las dieselbe Parascha, die sein Großvater Avery z´´l´´ 1942 in New York las.
Unsere Tora kam aus den USA und kehrte nach Europa zurück. So wie Avery in Deutschland seine Familientradition wieder aufgriff.
All photos except those of Donnas blog courtesy of Barbara Swarthout.
Wenn Sie mehr über das Leben unserer amerikanisch-jüdisch-deutschen Familie in Berlin erfahren möchten, können Sie sich in Donnas blog Full Circle einclicken.