Part 2: Our Son Is Being Raised Jewish! The Bar Mitzvah: He Is A Man!

Eight years of Hebrew School.

Three years of Junior Congregation attendance.

June 18, 2016 was the Bar Mitzvah, Haftorah Naso!

The dads could not be prouder. Even the Catholic dad. He was just as much a part of the process as I was. He attended Saturday services to support our son as much as me, sometimes even more! And he loved it, after all, the Jewish Bible is Part One of his religion.

I cried three times, and then was able to stop myself. Otherwise it would have been a full on bawl and I might have flooded the place. It was very emotional for us, two gay men who never thought they could have a child, let alone watch him become a Bar Mitzvah. We have been proud many times before, but this was the proudest we have ever been. Paul did a great job reading a Torah portion, his Haftorah, and then an additional responsive prayer with the Congregation, the Ashrei. Lastly was his speech, and he put all of his personality into that! It was fantastic.

And that night was the party. We are so blessed to have great family and friends, and also, that our son has terrific school friends who helped him to make this the best Bar Mitzvah ever. Don’t forget, the Dab is it y’all!

You never know how good the party is going to be until you go through it. We threw the perfect party for our son. We wanted everyone to have a great time, and we wanted Paul to have the best memories to last him a lifetime. We are confident we accomplished our goals!

I do not know what the future holds for my son with regards to religion. I feel that I gave him the best possible foundation in the faith of my family. What he does with that is out of my control. Our synagogue gave him a fantastic sense of community, with friends from all different parts of his life, ten of whom he is still with in middle school. He has had a taste of the Hebrew language and gets to continue to use it at his sleep-away camp which is mainly Jewish. I gave him the cultural background, he learned the traditions, and we will continue to celebrate the religious holidays with our family. I think I finally did something right!