Blaine Voyage

Do you know what a bat/ bar mitzvah is? Well this will be a brief review for those who know and a quick lesson for those who do not. A bat mitzvah is a Jewish celebration of growing up and becoming a Jewish adult when you turn 13. It isn’t just a party though. You have to lead a Shabbat service, read from the Torah (which is in Hebrew by the way), study your portion for months, know all of the prayers reasonably well, and on top of all that actually plan the party. Believe me, it’s a lot.

In my case, I mostly know the prayers, I am starting my portion soon and have not a clue how this party part is going to work. My family is really big (it’s all my mom’s side so don’t blame my dad) so somehow we are going to fit about 250 people in a room and try to feed and entertain them.

So basically we had no clue. Then my mom went to pick up Julie from a bowling alley and it struck her like lightning. “A Bowl Mitzvah!” she declared as angels sang from the sky, “It shall be the first of its kind!”

Okay, not really but the Bowl Mitzvah part is true. The only question was where would we ever find a bowling alley nice enough to invite my great aunt Mindy? My mom soon thereafter found a pretty fancy bowling alley near my cousin after this idea had struck. Coincidence? I think not.

So in time we called up Strykes (the nice bowling alley) and tried to speak with an event planner. No reply. We called again. Nothing. We called yet again. Radio silence. Over time this tallied up and we figured that they probably aren’t planning on a follow-up meeting, so that brought us back to square one.

Where are we now? Square one: a Who the Heck Knows Mitzvah.