Bar Mitzvah Pics!

This is Dara -
It's been a whirlwind the last few days here in Israel but we wanted to get some pictures of the bar mitzvah up so people could share in the joy.  I don't have a ton of pictures since a wonderful new friend in the tour group graciously volunteered to be our "official" photographer for the event and took most of the pictures on her own camera ( Thanks so much, Marlene!)  I'll post a few more (especially of the proud grandparents and aunt and uncle) when I get them.

It was a wonderful, moving, meaningful service.  It was held in a room in our hotel in Tel Aviv with the entire tour group attending and participating.  Ari did an amazingly exceptional job (and I'm only a little biased).  We all laughed and cried and really felt that this was something very special that we were all sharing. 

Saturday night, after a free afternoon in Tel Aviv, we took the entire tour group (plus some cousins that we haven't seen in almost 20 years!) out for a delicious Israeli dinner at a fabulous restaurant that had been recommended by an Israeli friend (we took over the entire restaurant).  It was fun and a perfect ending to a perfect day.

Tomorrow morning we head out early to do an archeological dig and some spelunking and then we head up north to a kibbutz for a few nights.  I'm not sure if we'll have internet access from there so if you don't hear from us, that's why...but we'll be keeping up with the blogging offline and will post when we can.

Mazel Tov, Ari.  We love you very much and are so proud of you.

Happy, but still a little nervous...this was right before the service.

Ari reading his haftorah during the service, wearing his Bubby's (great-grandmother's) tallis to honor her memory.

The girls (Ellie and her two cousins) leading a song during the service

The kids' table!

The friends' table!

Proud Nana and Pop-pop, Aunt Marcy and Uncle Craig, and cousin Chava

Can't be a bar mitzvah without the hora!!  Mazel Tov, Ari!  Now you can relax and enjoy the rest of the trip!

The long-lost cousins, Dov, Chava and their littlest, Ori - it was so great to see them! (We haven't seen them since 1993!)