Welcome to Zach’s Bar Mitzvah

May 24, 2020
Rosh Chodesh Sivan, 5780
A Message From Our Family
A lot has happened since we first launched this website. We hope everyone is safe, healthy, and sane in these troubled times.
Zach, as many of you know, is a big baseball fan. The old saying goes that when you play baseball some days you win, some days you lose, and some days it rains. By now it is apparent to all of us (and you) that the Bar Mitzvah in its initial planned form will not be able to take place on May 24, so this has become the Bar Mitzvah version of a rain postponement, with a little twist.
Updated Details
We will still be convening a service on May 24th at 10 AM, as planned, but it will not be in person. Rather it will be broadcast over the web (likely via Zoom). The Rabbi and Cantor will be at the synagogue, we will be in our house, and you will all be in your houses. Because we will all be in different places, this will not be a full service, as that requires a minyan (quorum) of 10 people in the same room. We will therefore be praying individually, so certain prayers, rituals, and blessings will have be skipped. Zach can still lead us in many of the same prayers he planned to, perform his Torah reading for us, and enlighten us with his D’var (words of) Torah. The Zoom details will not be available until the week before and we will be sure to share those, as well as a downloadable prayer book, on this page at that time. We welcome everyone to join the Zoom (wear your pajamas if you’d like) and share our simcha (joy) on that day.
Zoom link
The Zoom meeting link is: https://zoom.us/j/4287358895?pwd=TVgrSGhHNmZKVFRTQ2F6aFhDMDhwUT09. If joining from the Zoom program directly, use meeting ID 4287358895 and password Frostexec.
The meeting should be live a few minutes before 10 am. If at all possible, please use a real name rather than a hard-to-interpret code name, as there will be someone watching for possible Zoom bombers.
Siddur (Prayer Book)
The siddur (prayer book) for the service can be accessed using this link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fndxfxgetdivkrz/SiddurForZach.pdf?dl=0. It’s a large file and a lot of pages so you may choose to access it on line or follow along in your own siddur. However, we will be skipping pieces and the Rabbi’s page announcements will refer to the page numbers here.
We have been alerted that when opening the document in Adobe Acrobat or other PDF readers it warns the document is damaged. As far as we can tell, once you clear that message everything is actually fine.
New! Car Parade!
We want to surprise Zach with a drive by Bar Mitzvah parade following the service in front of our house at 12:30 PM on Sunday (weather permitting). If you are local to East Brunswick we would love to see you — properly distanced of course. This will be a great way to give Zach a little celebration. Our address is 1 Persimmon Court. (Look for balloons J) Please come down Peach Orchard and turn left on Persimmon Court to turn around.
Makeup Date?
As for the full Bar Mitzvah, the next Sunday that is also a Rosh Chodesh (start of a Jewish month, like May 24) falls on October 18. Our current plan is to hold the full Bar Mitzvah — service and party — on that day. It’s the same preparation for Zach and we hope that on that day he will be able to lead us in everything he has been working on. Please “save the date” of October 18, 2020. We will not know exact details, such as timing, until at least late summer and will continue to update you via email as well as here.
Mitzvah Project
Zach has decided to give back to doctors, nurses, first responders, and other medical professionals who have had to work extra hours to care for all of us, sick or not during the pandemic. He has arranged for an account to be set up at Giddy’s, our local East Brunswick kosher pizzeria that will provide meals for those workers on the front lines. Many have contributed already and we thank you. If you would like to contribute as well, please call Giddy’s at (732) 659-6898 with a credit card and mention “Zach’s Bar Mitzvah project.” All contributions will go into the account I have set up. We suggest avoiding the lunch and dinner rushes if at all possible.
Update – May 20, 2020 – We’re already helping


Contact Us
Fee free to reach out at any time with questions or feedback at zachsbarmitzvah@total-party.com.