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May 21, 2004/Sivan 1 5764, Vol. 56, No.35
Local family celebrates milestone at Masada
JENNIFER GOLDBERG
Special Sections Coordinator
Since Jacob Freidkin of Phoenix was a young child, his parents wanted to celebrate his bar mitzvah in Israel.
Carol and Steve Freidkin first visited Israel in 1996 on a Jewish National Fund trip, and developed a love for the country that was soon transferred to their son.
"We decided while we were over there that it would be kind of fun to do (Jake's bar mitzvah) in Israel. We bought his tallit set on Ben Yehuda Street while we were there," Steve recalls. "We went again three years later on another JNF trip, and when we got home, Jake made the comment that we couldn't ever go to Israel again without him. So we thought it would be appropriate that our next trip would be his bar mitzvah trip."
The Freidkin family's Israel trip lasted from Dec. 22, 2003-Jan. 5, 2004, although the planning began far earlier. Carol and Steve began designing the trip approximately 14 months earlier, a necessary amount of time to coordinate the ceremony and the activities for the 21-person group.
"I had been in contact with several people through the JNF, and I contracted with Neil Eisenstadt. He has a travel business and made all the arrangements. After a year of thousands of e-mails, we had all the details done and the trip was set," says Steve.
Although 30 people were scheduled to take the trip, several people changed their minds as the departure date neared due to continuing unrest in the region. Still, says Steve, it didn't occur to them to change their plans and not make the trip.
"We'd been there several times," he notes. "Most of the people who backed out had never gone and believed too much what they saw on television. We were there for two weeks, we toured the entire country, from the southern tip and the northern tip, spent time in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and we never really felt threatened."
Carol adds, "I've never felt anything but safe. I really feel so much safer there and more at home there than I do here."
Approximately half of the Freidkin's group had never visited Israel, so a large portion of the trip was taken up with touring the country.
"We were on the bus all day long - like 12 hours a day," says Carol.
The bar mitzvah was held early in the morning on Dec. 25, at Masada.
The Freidkins booked their spot at Masada early; there are three sites there that can be used for b'nai mitzvot and "they were booked every hour, all day long," notes Carol.
Jake's bar mitzvah was the first booked event of the day, but when the family arrived, a group of Hasidim were finishing up their morning prayers. After they left, the service began.
Carol remembers that "we were being watched by the Hasidic Jews" who were there before them. "They came to the door and were huddling at the door, and they all were saying that they had so much respect for us being there."
Preparation for the event was a group effort; Cantor Howard Tabaknek accompanied the family on their trip to help Jake during the ceremony, the Freidkins borrowed a Torah from their tour guide's synagogue, and they used a Reform service given to them by a rabbi in Jerusalem.
Jake read three portions of the Torah, including a special Hanukkah portion.
After the bar mitzvah, the group was treated to a bedouin feast with dancers near the Einngedi spa at the Dead Sea.
"We had a big feast, and we danced - the Oriental dancer got us all up dancing, and then we jumped in the mud and got in the Dead Sea," says Steve.
Holding the event in Israel was meaningful for all three members of the Freidkin family.
"The trip was better than just doing it in my synagogue," Jake says.
Carol says that the trip fulfilled a desire she and Steve have had for years.
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