Association of Gulf Jewish Communities hold first Bar Mitzvah in Bahrain in 16 years

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The Association of Gulf Jewish Communities announced that it has facilitated the first Bar Mitzvah in Bahrain in 16 years at the House of Ten Commandments.

The Bar Mitzvah weekend, the Jewish coming of age ritual, started with a Shabbat dinner in Manama on Friday evening with diplomats, Bahrainis and residents of other GCC countries in attendance. According to Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their child’s actions.

Once Jewish children reach that age, they are said to “become” a bar or bat mitzvah, at which point they begin to be held accountable for their own actions. The weekend concluded with the first authentic Sephardic Selichot service in the GCC at the House of Ten Commandments, the oldest and only operational synagogue in the GCC.

“It is a very exciting time for Jewish life in the GCC as more families celebrate Jewish milestones more publicly,” said AGJC Rabbi Dr Eli Abadie.

“In addition to this young man’s Bar Mitzvah, we recently celebrated a Bat Mitzvah for a young woman in Oman, and we have several other Jewish lifecycle events which will take place before the end of the year.”

“The Bar Mitzvah was a joyous occasion for our whole community, and we wish the young man and his family a Mazal Tov,” said AGJC President Ebrahim Dawood Nonoo. AGJC is the umbrella organisation for the Jewish communities of GCC countries.