The new Bar Mitzva Dads and Lads Club 13 of Borehamwood, UK launched its first of 8 sessions on Sunday.
Rabbi Yossi Simon of Tzivos Hashem did an educational presentation of Teffilin and a Sofer Stam in general.
The event ended with all the fathers in attendance putting on Tefillin, 2 of which had never done so before, and so celebrated their Bar Mitzvah.
“One father in the group told me he saw a documentary on television of Chabad of California which made him realize that since he had never put on Teffilin, he had never had a Bar Mitzvah,” said Rabbi Amos Azizoff, organizer of the event. “He was extremely emotional!”
I love Chabad!
We need to rethink this misrepresentation of ‘bar mitzvah’, though. The misrepresentation may lead grown men to believe that they are not obligated to do mitzvos, etc., until they had a ceremony, tefillin-laying, call-up to the Torah. Let’s put our heads together, and not let the gimmick to redefine halakha.