Family Travels 9 Hours for Triple Bar Mitzvah

A groundbreaking event, first Bar Mitzva to happen in the Jewish community of Bowen, was held at the Chabad House of Cairns (a sub-community of Chabad of RARA).

A Jewish family from Bowen celebrated this major milestone in their life joining the Cairns Jewish community with a celebration, in the presence of their parents, relatives and friends from throughout the North QLD area.

The family traveled nine hours back and forth to celebrate with the Cairns Jewish community.

But that is not the only thing unique about the event. The celebration also afforded other members of the family (brother Oliver, 16 and Luka, 18) who never enjoyed this rite of passage when they were younger, to do so with their friends and family who traveled to join in this event.

While the program boasted all of the trappings of the conventional Bar Mitzvah, great food and drinks, dancing, speeches and gifts for the guests of honor, it was all kept to the current social distancing guidelines of the state of Queensland.

“Getting my Aliya to the Torah allowed me to fill a void, and finally confirm my place in the Jewish community, thus being an event that will help shape the person I am as I grow as a Jewish man,” said Jazz, the bar mitzvah boy.

“Their family made this special trip all the way from Bowen, a 9 hour drive each way for this event,” Rabbi Ari Rubin, director of Chabad of North Queensland explained. “These are not young kids going through the motions because that’s what all their friends are doing and enjoying the party while not quite grasping the religious significance. These are young people who have decided to make a passionate statement about the centrality of their Jewish identity to their lives. By doing this publicly they affirm to their friends and the wider community that Judaism is something they feel strongly about and plan to make an important part of their future!”

For more information about this event and other events, visit: www.chabadonthereef.com