Bar mitzvah boys

Very moving service at a London synagogue for these two lads. Inspiring actually. I love a good history lesson when it is relevant to the world today, and their portions focused on achieving justice whilst stopping the spiral of hate and revenge that occurred in early civilisations (a "portion" if you’re not familiar with the bar mitzvah service is a reading in Hebrew - learnt and often sung rather than read). There was a related sermon by a charismatic rabbi focusing on how we can work at community level to address knife crime, and some very pointed remarks aimed at the austerity policies of recent years and their impact on youth services and recreational facilities. All very compelling. And a rather amazing choir too, beautiful synagogue singing is a joy to listen to.

This reform synagogue did the religious thing but the emphasis was on personal responsibility and doing good with your life. Almost felt Buddhist to me, and I came away feeling quite uplifted.

The boys are pictured here afterwards with a very proud grandmother in her sunny garden, where the order of the day was bottomless canapés and Pimms. The food seemed never ending and the falafel and humus in particular were excellent.

We called in to surprise The Yoga Mama as we were in the area. The look on her face was priceless.

Good day.