Abraham's Bar Mitzvah

Posted at 10:24 PM, Saturday, November 18, 2006

My first bar mitzvah celebration at Beit Shalom since my arrival. We called Abraham Helfand to the Torah, listened to an eloquent speech from him, and enjoyed a delicious lunch following services catered by our Sisterhood. Definitely a joyous occasion!

I'm sure Abraham would not consider his life exotic, since for people who live exotic lives, everything seems completely normal. It's just the rest of us who find him really interesting. Abraham's parents Kenneth (a Pittsburgh native!) and Shagina (originally from Taiwan) maintain two homes. Shagina and Abraham live much of the year in the tiny hamlet of Moonta, located about a two hour's drive from Adelaide on the coast. There is no McDonalds or stoplight in the town of 3000, which suits the Helfands just fine. Kenneth visits whenever he can. However, he spends much of his time mining opals in the equally tiny town of Cooper Pedy, one of the most geographically isolated places in Australia. It is 700 miles from Cooper Pedy to Adelaide, and in the course of his bar mitzvah preparations, Abraham made the 12 hour bus trip on his own many times.

In his bar mitzvah speech, Abraham reported that Cooper Pedy is an Aboriginal term that means "white man in a hole." Nearly all of the homes are built underground to protect their inhabitants from temperatures that regularly hit 130 degrees in the shade. Kenneth, aided by Abraham when he is visiting, mines opals starting early in the morning, then retreats to his cool home when it gets too hot to work.

Clearly, Abraham's bar mitzvah preparation did not take the normal course. He spent three years studying by phone and e-mail, taught mostly by Beit Shalom member and youth leader Kath Cozens. Since I've arrived, Abraham and his mother have been trekking in every Shabbat for services and face-to-face lessons, while his phone lessons with Kath have continued as well. Abraham performed wonderfully today, reading 20 verses from the Torah, 25 from the prophetic Isaiah passage, and leading much of the service. His success is due in great part to his incredible hard work, plus his mother's "pure psychological Chinese torture" (to quote from Abraham's speech!).

But he couldn't have done it without the help of Beit Shalom members as well. The extended Lipert clan essentially adopted Abraham and his family, inviting them to share Jewish holidays and acting as Jewish mentors for them. The Hanzalik family hosted Shagina and Abraham each weekend they visited and opened up their home. The congregation turned out in force to celebrate with this family whose relatives all live thousands of miles away. We will hope to see Abraham continue to grow as a proud Jewish young man in our community.