{"id":8652,"date":"2021-05-27T14:59:43","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T13:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klsonline.org\/?p=8652"},"modified":"2023-03-28T09:07:18","modified_gmt":"2023-03-28T08:07:18","slug":"the-child-is-father","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klsonline.org\/the-child-is-father\/","title":{"rendered":"The Child is Father"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
On May 15th<\/sup> my son Daniel became Bar Mitzvah. His Torah portion was Parashat Shemot chapter 3:1-8, where Moses encounters the burning bush. His birthday was actually in December, but all the upheavals of this last Covid-y year meant that the Bar Mitzvah had to be delayed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m not Jewish, but my wife Rachel is and that\u2019s how we have raised our two kids. Indeed Dan\u2019s day kept reminding me of his big sister Lily\u2019s Bat Mitzvah, six years earlier. Learning her<\/em> Torah portion seemed to take ages, where Dan practised and learned his quickly and well. Conversely, Lily appeared confident and assured as soon as she stepped onto the bimah; Dan, like many thirteen-year-old boys, was a little diffident at the prospect of public speaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We arrived at KLS early on the morning of the 15th<\/sup> to give us time for a quick dry-run of the service, and at first Daniel looked a little stiff and ill at ease. It is a big deal, after all! But Rabbi Ren\u00e9 gave him some advice on how to project his voice and to vary his intonation to keep the readings interesting. By the time the actual service began he looked much more comfortable. Indeed, sitting in the front row I was struck as if for the first time by how tall he has become, and how handsome he looked in his smart trousers, new shirt, posh shoes and his beautifully embroidered tallis.<\/p>\n\n\n\nI was struck as if for the first time by how tall he has become<\/h4>\n\n\n\n