The Perfect Place for Your Bar or Bat Mitzvah Ceremony

December 11th 2013

There is no more sentimental, meaningful or evocative place to hold a Bar or Bat Mitzvah ceremony in Israel than in the Old City of Jerusalem. Since the Kotel, also known as the Western Wall, is considered the holiest place in the world for Jews, it’s a perfect choice for a venue where your family can conduct a deeply meaningful religious ceremony.

Celebrating a Bar or Bat Mitzvah doesn’t need to be merely an excuse for a lavish party. By holding your family’s ceremony at Judaism’s most sacred spot, you enable your son or daughter to truly connect to “coming of age” in the place where Jews have practiced the faith’s most significant rituals throughout the millennia.

The Kotel, the remains of the Western retaining wall of the Second Temple, is a reminder of the place where the First and Second Holy Temples together stood for 1,000 years. During that time, the Temple was the center of Jewish worship, preceding the existence of community synagogues as we know them today.

The seven-branched menorah, originally a ritual object in the First Temple, sometimes called Solomon’s Temple because it was built by King Solomon, has served as a symbol of Jewish heritage for thousands of years. Today, it is the official emblem of the State of Israel. And the miracle of Chanukah, the miracle of a single, small flask of oil that burned for eight nights, occurred in the Second Temple, just steps from the Kotel, on the Temple Mount itself.

Although the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in the year 70, and modern Jews have lived without a Temple in Jerusalem for the past 2,000 years, traditional Jewish prayers are filled with references to the Temple and with the hope that someday, the Jewish people will benefit from the restoration of a third, permanent Temple in Jerusalem.

Over the millennia, the Kotel has been a symbol and a source of inspiration for Jews living outside of Israel. Generations of Jews have dreamed about someday standing in the shadow of the Kotel and caressing its well-worn, ancient stones.

By holding your child’s coming of age ceremony at the Kotel, or at the nearby Robinson’s Arch, your child can be connected to thousands of years of Jewish history. He or she will be praying at the singular place where more Jewish prayers have been recited than anyplace else. And you’ll have the distinct privilege of escorting your son or daughter to the age of Jewish maturity while standing at the holiest site in the world.