No, I don’t mean Mordechai Kaplan OB”M, he actually invented the modern concept of celebrating one’s Bat Mitzvah. I am referring to Isser ben Bryna Danielovitch OB”M who died yesterday at the age of 103 and one of his most noteworthy achievements was inventing the modern concept of celebrating one’s Bar Mitzvah. I am not referring to celebrating your Bar Mitzvah at age 13, that is discussed widely in earlier Torah sources, I mean your Bar Mitzvah you celebrate after living a full life of 70 years and then celebrating your second Bar Mitzvah at the age of 83.

Isser or “Izzy” was inspired to reconnect with his Judaism after miraculously surviving a helicopter crash late in life, in 1991. He also wrote a children’s book about Heroes in the Torah in 1999. Over the course of his life, he gave a tremendous amount of Tzedakah totaling almost 100 million dollars to Jewish and General causes and even donated the theater at Aish HaTorah’s campus in Jerusalem.

Isser was also known for some of his other work starring in over 50 Hollywood films such as Spartacus and my personal favorite, Cast a Giant Shadow, a movie about Coleniel Mickey Marcus, who left West Point to help train the IDF forces in the War of Independence. Isser was better known by his Hollywood stage name, “Kirk Douglas”. Many other Jewish Hollywood personalities emulated his example and celebrated their “post” Bnei Mitzvahs after they saw Kirk Douglas start this special new “Minhag” twenty years ago. One inspirational thing we should learn from his life story is that it is never too late to start studying Torah and focusing on our Jewish growth. 

We also don’t need to wait until we are 83 or undergo a traumatic experience to celebrate our post Bar Mitzvah again by reading the Torah and sponsoring a Kiddush in shul. Why not celebrate one’s Bnai Mitzvah every year? I will share a personal secret with you. I relive and celebrate my Bar Mitzvah every month! About 40 years ago when I was almost a young man of 12 years old, half of my family were “Shabbos walkers” and half of my family were “Shabbos drivers”. No matter what we would do to celebrate my Bar Mitzvah on Shabbos, there would likely be some acrimony in my family that would potentially tarnish what should otherwise be a joyous occasion. Truth be told, I also did not look forward to learning an entire Torah portion to recite in public either.

Doing a Mitzvah while causing someone else anguish is rarely a good idea, so my eldest brother came up with a great Solomonic solution to keep Shalom Bayis, the peace in the family. He suggested I celebrate my Bar Mitzvah on Rosh Chodesh, the New Moon, which happened to fall out on a Sunday. There would be a short Torah portion for me to learn to read and I could know it to be prepared to leyn, read, Torah every month if need be. We then celebrated my Bar Mitzvah on a Sunday morning Rosh Chodesh with all factions of my family happily in attendance getting along and I got away with learning the shortest Torah portion possible for my Bar Mitzvah.

This formative lesson taught me a great deal about the value of Shalom Bayit, keeping the peace. In many prayer books, the prayers conclude with the Talmudic dictum that states “Talmidei Chachamim Marbin Shalom Baolam, Torah Scholars increase Peace in the world.” This means if you want to know how wise a Torah scholar actually is, there is a simple Talmudic litmus test, just see how much peace they increase in the world and that will tell you all you need to know about them. The Talmud in Masechet Sotah teaches that for the sake of peace, God commands us even to erase his holy name if that’s what it takes to keep peace in the home and the community. The Navi says “Emet, Truth” and “Shalom, Peace” must meet and balance each other out if one wants to have success in Judaism.

It is my hope and aspiration to successfully pass this ideal down to our students to live by as a core Jewish value at Addlestone. 

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Elisha Paul