Brenna's Bat Mitzvah

This weekend we went to Long Island to attend and celebrate my cousin Brenna’s Bat Mitzvah. I’m officially old for saying this, but I really can’t believe that Brenna is already 13. I remember when she was born! But she is, and has become a really beautiful person. It was great to see her and the entire Ferney/Dreier clan. Brenna’s service was held at Temple Chaverim in Plainview, New York. She lead the service beautifully, you can tell she had really worked hard to learn her torah portion.

I know this next part is not about Brenna or what we did this weekend, but one of the more remarkable things about the synagogue was its beautiful ark. I just had to write about this 100 year old enormous carved wood piece. I don’t have any pictures of it- so you will just have to go see it for yourself some time.

When the synagogues first began, it was a small congregation that met in various places. As their membership grew, they needed to build a permanent home so in 1996, they began to construct their current location. In the process of gathering design ideas, a member read a book about old synagogues of New York in which many shuls in New York City, past and present, were catalogued. One Orthodox shul described in the book was Congregation Ahavas Israel, which had been founded in 1900 and closed in 1980 when the Orthodox Jewish population shifted away from Jamaica, Queens. The book included a photograph of their beautiful Ark and details about how it had been disassembled and placed in storage when the congregation disbanded. With the blessing of the Temple Board and a surviving trustee of Congregation Ahavas Israel, the ark was moved, reassembled and restored at Temple Chaverim. It really is gorgeous.



After the service, it was party time! So we headed to Oragin in Farmingdale. Nikki, Brian, David and I had a fantastic time. In my next life, I think I want to be a Bat Mitzvah dancer. Nikki too.



Brenna looked beautiful, Jill and Joey were amazing hosts and Chloe and Dylan are adorable! It was nice to have fun with a bunch of my family we don’t get to see very often. We even got a candle- so nice!




Let's see how may cousins can we fit into one pic... we've got Judy, Ken, Jan, Sofia, Gabe, Harlan, Lorie, Donald, Nikki, Rona, Brian, Leslie, David, Marty, me, Meri, Charlie, Barry and Ingrid. OK, 19- yep that's about it.


Brian and Nikki, Grandpa Don and Grandma Rona, David and myself


Hangin' with my fabulous cousins


Seriously Pazit- how do I not have a picture of the two of us? (sigh) This will have to do.

If you are going to have a Ben & Jerry’s theme for your party, what else would you serve for dessert other than yummy Ben & Jerry’s ice cream? Actually, you got individual ice cream cups as well as a choice of devildogs, ho ho and hostess cupcakes. Good times!











After the party ended, we took powernaps, went to the Ferney’s for a little after-party unwinding and then dinner at our favorite Cantonese restaurant, Kwong Ming. This place is old school- you can still order “one from column A...” and we always have a great meal there.



On Sunday, we visited Allison, Stuart and Brooke for an hour before hitting the road for home.


How friking cute?



We had gotten take-out from one of my favorite Italian restaurants and brought it home for dinner, so after our ride we relaxed and indulged (and I did laundry of course). Jerry seemed to have really missed us because he wouldn't stop climbing all over David on the couch.

It was a really fun weekend- great to see so many cousins and I hope we can all get together again soon!