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May 3, 2002/Iyar 21, 5762, Vol. 54, No. 33
Kingman celebrates first bar mitzvah
JESSICA BARBER
Editorial Assistant
Congregation Or Midbar in Kingman recently marked a major milestone - the congregation's first bar mitzvah celebration.
Reed Weisberg, son of Dawn and Shelley Weisberg, became the first member of the congregation to be called to the Torah on April 27.
"It is kind of exciting," said Weisberg. "I was a little nervous."
The Weisbergs expected about 120 guests to attend the ceremony and the reception, including congregation members, family and friends.
Because the congregation does not have a building, the family rented a historic building in downtown Kingman for the event. Other items also had to be borrowed.
"We borrowed a Torah from a congregation in Lake Havasu," said Dawn Weisberg. "We have a rabbi, Malcolm Cohen, who is helping us."
Cohen, a resident of California, travels to Kingman periodically to help the congregants with celebrations and events.
Reed Weisberg learned much of his Hebrew knowledge on his own and with the help of his father, he said.
"I took this basic Hebrew reading class," he said. "When that was over, my dad taught me and I taught myself."
Planning the bar mitzvah has been an interesting event, especially for Dawn Weisberg, who is not Jewish.
"It's been very exciting and it's kind of interesting to try to do this in a community when you don't have a temple, you don't have a Torah, you don't have anything but you're trying to do something," she said. "I'm not Jewish, but it's been very exciting for me to put on a bar mitzvah."
Members of the congregation are also excited about celebrating their first community bar mitzvah.
"This is a big thing for us," said synagogue treasurer Rita Leibowitz. "We feel very proud of it."
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