Baltimore, MD - Mar. 26, 2020 - These heilige boys could not receive an aliya or lain for a minyan this week. They could not take part in the bo bayom seuda and/or Shabbos celebration that entailed months of preparation and effort. They could not give the long awaited pshetel that they worked so hard to perfect or even lain their parshios and haftarahs in shul after months of practice. These plans had to be curtailed but that didn’t stop some of the boys whose bar mitzvahs fell out over the past two weeks from thinking up some very innovative ways to celebrate their bar mitzvah day.

One local family drove their son up and down the streets of his rebbe, menahel and friends with music blaring from the car while the residents of those blocks joined in the simcha by waving, dancing, and shouting mazel tov from afar.

Another boy celebrated with all his neighbors, outside. While one neighbor, a talented musician, played the music over loud speakers, all the men and boys danced on their own yards with such joy and ahava, to uplift the bar mitzvah bochur’s spirits. Drashos were given over the loud speakers and the neighborhood was able to partake in the family’s simcha.

Still another family asked their relatives and friends to send a short video clip wishing the bochur their mazel tov wishes and presented the boy with a compilation video featuring all the clips, some of them quite humorous and inspirational.

Some boys held their seudas mitzvah at home with just their immediate family in attendance, and received surprise calls from their rabbeim, menahalim and grandparents who gave the boys divrei bracha over the phone. The extended families watched the seuda and listened to the pshetel over Zoom, giving their own divrei bracha to the bar mitzvah, while enjoying their own home cooked delicacies l’kavod the bar mitzvah!

Others had the opportunity to lain the entire parsha they had lovingly practiced for months with only their immediate family in attendance over Zoom to their extended family.

Some classes arranged to send each boy a bar mitzvah cake and also a card from every boy in the class to show that they were thinking of them, even if they could not physically attend.

Some boys received all kinds of goodies and presents from local stores, ordered from relatives and friends from a far. Mi k’amcha Yisrael! These boys feel that their alternative, hastily planned bo bayoms were even more special than their original plan and will never be forgotten! The fact that others were so happy to be able to partake in the simcha, either outside or online will stay with them and their families forever! Some have postponed the Shabbos celebrations which were to take place this coming Shabbos, to the summer and beyond.

One thing that stands out in all these boys, is the unequivocal emunah peshuta they have displayed as they have started their adult lives! They firmly believe that even though they had other plans, this was exactly how it was supposed to be! Despite all the work that they and their parents put in over the past few months, they intrinsically understand that there is a grand plan we cannot fathom. Their emunah, despite the let-down of not having the celebration they had anticipated for years, is astounding and a model to all of us.

We daven that they can celebrate their bar mitzvahs b’ezras Hashem very soon, in person, with their extended families and friends, in Yerushalayim ir hakodesh!