Jacob Schwartz, the son of the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Phoenix, celebrated his bar mitzvah in Israel at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai on June 7th. Jacob has had a lot of person connections to people from the TIPS region as many have come to visit Phoenix. So his family decided to have his bar mitzvah in the region and not at the Kotel, as many others have done. Adam stated in his blog, "One of Jacob’s many connections with Israel came as a result of meeting several of these women (of Ethnic Flavors/Taamei Ami) during their visit to Phoenix last October. This became one of many elements to help link our son, his becoming a bar mitzvah and Israel."
At the end of the Bar Mitzvah day, Adam writess: "... when I asked Jacob what the highlight was for him, he commented 'All of it' adding 'How many people get to celebrate their becoming a bar mitzvah, watch how honey is made, see cows milked, a battlefield and climb on tanks all in the same day?' Seems like the desired connections have been made."
To read about the fantastic experience, please go to Adam's blog at : http://www.jewishphoenix.org/blog_post.aspx?id=2031
If any reader would like to try to arrange a bar or bat mitzvah in our region, let your local TIPS federation representative know.
