Milestone Number 7: on the Road to 11 Transformative Events of the Decade That Was

Rediscovery of my Hebraic roots and becoming a Bar Mitzvah in 2003

After decades of non-observance of the dietary laws, the Sabbath, daily prayer and submersing myself in various cultures and subcultures in California and Mexico, I initially began to rediscover my roots in bucolic Eugene, Oregon.

Two of us -- Alan and myself --were the sole male members of a dynamic Temple that had nearly 50 single ladies of the opposite sex.

The experience was at once overwhelming and galvanizing serving to reconnect me to my ethnic roots.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, I became valued, not because of my academic accomplishments or my net worth-- but because of my accidental birth into a people with a long history of travails and many accomplishments over the millenia. In short, we all shared a common journey.

And, I reasoned that if my status of being a member of the Jewish nation was so highly prized, then perhaps there was a significance to to my religion.!?!

Yes, my life had enhanced meaning and my religion, my background, my lineage (40 generations of Rabbis on the maternal side) and early religious training were significant in ways I had never imagined.

It was here that I rediscovered my roots and married wife number 3 who I brought back to Northern California to start a new life. (in the Carmichael/Fair Oaks area northeast of Sacramento).

And it was here in Northern California that I was blessed with the birth of my daughter and the opportunity to be one of the founders of a Synagogue in the growing corridor northeast of Sacramento. I was inspired to chant the Haftorah (portion from the Prophets) for the Yom Kipper Service, with my new born daughter quietly listening in the congregation.

So, let's fast forward 20 years. Now a resident of New Jersey and with the 50th Anniversary of my original Bar Mitzvah approaching, I needed somehow to celebrate my reconnection to my roots.

So, I marked this significant milestone by becoming a born -again member of the tribe at Congregation Sons of Israel in Leonia, New Jersey.

I spent a number of months to prepare myself to read from the Torah scroll (in front of my invitees) the entire double portion of my parsha (Biblical chapters) with the trope that I had learned, forgotten and relearned--all 150 sentences.

What a glorious experience it was and especially moving sharing the experience with Mt. Vernon friends who attended my first Bar Mitzvah at Congregation Emmanuel on Prospect Avenue.

This reconnection had strong unexpected repercussions. Shortly thereafter, I became an instructor of Jewish Ethics and Prayer to Bar and Bat Mitzvah age students at Temple Sinai in Tenafly, NJ; then at Temple Emmanu-el in Kloster, New Jersey, I had the privilege of teaching trope and cantillations to another set of students.

Then unexpectedly, a family from Teaneck, New Jersey sought me out to teach trope to their son--so he could read a significant portion of his Torah Parsha on his Bar Mitvah day in their temple. (It's unusual to find a Bar or Bat Mitzvah student reading more than 3 or 4 sentences from the Torah in Reform Shuls--and here was a young man proud to memorize and read 40 sentences....)

Hallelujah from a born-again Levite.