I guess one could say that it began when Bevin was 3 years old and I started bringing him to the Family Hour once a month at the Jewish Center here in Stockholm. There, we learned about Jewish Holidays, ate Jewish foods and did crafts projects together with other Jewish families with small children. When Bevin was 6, I enrolled him in Rellen, the once a week Jewish School on Tuesday afternoons that he still goes to.

A year before the big day, Bevin began preparations for his Bar Mitzvah under the tutelage of Paul Heller, one of the Synagogues 2 cantors. With Paul's guidance, Bevin learned to recite the blessings to read before and after the Torah and Haftorah readings. He was also given a Torah portion to learn. This was the section of the Torah he read during the service.

The final week leading up to the actual day of the Saturday service was quite hectic.

Tuesday morning, Håkan and I drove out to Arlanda Airport to pick up my Uncle Wally and his wife Rosemary. Bevin didn’t have school that day so he was able to drive out with us. My mom stayed at home in our apartment. On the way back into town we gave them a quick tour around Stockholm, seen through our car windows. Tuesday evening I made a Swedish style dinner for all of us. Several types of herring, prinskorv(small hot dogs), Swedish meatballs and Janssons Frestelsen(temptation) a type of potato casserole with anchovies and cream.

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On Wednesday, we prepared for the Thursday morning service. I bought eggs, cream cheese, butter, and mayo. Sandy was going to get the bread and rolls. Rosemary made a big batch of egg salad and I took the honey cake, I had baked the week before out of the freezer. On Wednesday evening Håkan and I took everyone to Sjöhästen, a small, very cozy neighborhood restaurant that serves very good Swedish home-style cooking called Husmanskost in Swedish.

Thursday morning, we piled everyone and everything into our car and drove to the Synagogue. Since our Volvo station wagon only seats 5 people, we had to put Bevin in the back where he lay down out of sight. After getting over worrying about not having a seatbelt on, he enjoyed the novel way to ride in a car. This week because Thursday was Kristihimmelsfärd or Ascension and a Swedish holiday, the Thursday morning services didn’t begin till 9:15 in the morning. We met Sandy and Saga there and Paul Heller joined us and we all went into the Synagogue. Bevin and Saga were going to take part in the service. We decided to treat it as a sort of dress rehearsal for the big day on Saturday. We would also be able to film the Thursday service. Video filming would not be allowed on Saturday. Bevin put on tafillin and his new tallit and made his first aliya. He went up to the Torah and said the blessing before and after the reading of a Torah Portion. He did his part beautifully! Those who hadn’t heard him sing before were amazed at his voice. And this is a kid who doesn’t want to be in a choir. Håkan put together a small film of him singing and it can be downloaded from the Movies section of this site. After the 40 minute service, Sandy and I served the food we had brought to the gabaim and others who attended the service. After the egg salad, bread, rolls, cucumbers, tomatoes, butter, cream cheese, honey cake, juice, and shots of whiskey (even Bevin and Saga got to taste the whiskey) were consumed, Paul Heller put Bevin and Saga through their paces. Bevin performed his Torah and Haftorah blessings and Saga did her Haftorah portion. Håkan video taped them.

On Thursday evening, tired and relieved that so far, things were going well, my mom, Evelyn, took us all out to dinner at Ming Garden near Mariatorget, our favorite Chinese Restaurant here in Stockholm.

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Early Friday morning, Håkan drove out to Sandy’s apartment to pick up her and all the stuff she had for the Kiddush that we were going to sponser after the Saturday morning service. He then came back to Reimersholmen and picked up me and my Aunt Rosemary and all our stuff and we all left for the Jewish Community house on Warendorffsgatan. My friend Sue Cohen met us there and from 9:30 am, we cut up cakes, arranged cookies, washed grapes, set tables, made saft, put out glasses for wine and trays of food. Risa Rosenberg and her son Issac also came by to help and by somewhere around 2 pm we were done. Everything looked great and we cleaned up and everyone went home.

Bevin was also supposed to attend a Friday evening service in the Synogogue but I told the Rabbi that we weren’t going to do that. Instead, I wanted to have Shabbat dinner in my apartment, with my family around me. Jews celebrate the beginning of Shabbat (the Sabbath) on Friday night at sundown by lighting candles and saying a blessing over them and then saying blessings over wine and a special bread called Challah. Bevin and I usually light candles on Friday nights throughout the year. This time we did all three things with my mom and uncle and aunt participating with us. We then ate a very nice dinner of chicken and rice. And prepared ourselves for Saturday morning.

Saturday morning I had to be at the Synogogue at 8:30 to do the finishing touches on the kiddush, pour the wine and saft. I took the subway there and met Sue Cohen and Sandy and we did the last bits.

At 9:15 the services started.

Here is an abbreviated description of the services and Bevins and Saga’s parts in it. The first half hour was mostly taken up with Hebrew prayers sung by the Cantor Paul Heller.

By about 9:45 the Torah section of the services start. The Torah is taken out of its cabinet and brought to the Bimah or pulpit. There it is unwrapped and put on the table to be read. Seven different people are called up to read a different portion of the day’s Torah section. It’s an honor to be asked to do that. Our friend Sam Silverstein went up to do the 5th aliya or reading. Bevin would be the eighth and last to go up and read. The last reading is called the Maftir reading. While the 7th aliya or portion is being read, Bevin and Saga both go up to the Bimah to wait to perform their parts in the service.

Bevin wore his new Tallit or prayer shawl that my mom gave him and his colorful kippah or yarmulke, a small hat, that he has had for many years now. In Jewish tradition it is considered respectful to cover one's head when in a house of God. Before reading his portion from the Torah, Bevin recites a series of blessings in Hebrew, then does the Torah portion and then he finishes with a series of more Hebrew blessings.

Sandy and I come up to the bimah when Bevin is finishing. We have a tallit to hold around our children while the Rabbi blesses them. We go back to our seats. Saga and Bevin go back to where they were sitting on the Bimah. The Torah is rewound and dressed. My uncle, Wallace Littman, was called up to the Bimah to help do this.

After the Torah is "dressed", Bevin and Saga go to the pulpit that faces the congregation and begin the Haftorah section of the service. The Haftorah is a reading taken from a passage from the Prophets section of the Old Testament that ancient scholars have decided has some relation to the Torah portion of the week. Bevin starts the Haftorah section by reciting some Hebrew blessings. Then Saga recites the Haftorah in Hebrew. Bevin finishes with more blessings in Hebrew. When they are finished, members of the congregation throw candy at them and shout Mazel Tov. After they sit back down in their places on the Bimah, Sandy and I go up to share reading the Swedish translation of the Haftorah.

The Torah is then carried around the sanctuary and finally returned to its cabinet. The Rabbi then separately blesses both Saga and Bevin and gives to each of them their own copy of the prayer book. They can now go and sit down back with their families. The rest of the service continues with the Rabbi’s sermon and then final prayers and some songs.

After the service is finished people file out to go to the Community house right next door for the kiddush.