Boys To Men

Well the title of this particular post is not about the singing sensation "Boys To Men", but about my wonder stepson Brandon Schaffer. Saturday, September 3, 2005, Brandon became a man by celebrating his 13th birthday.

Even though we are Christians, I have always held the Jewish custom of Bar Mitzvah with a deep respect and awe. In the Judaism 101 webpage, www.Jewfaq.org it states that, " Under Jewish Law, children are not obligated to observe the commandments, although they are encouraged to do so as much as possible to learn the obligations they will have as adults. At the age of 13 (12 for girls), children become obligated to observe the commandments.

The Bar Mitzvah ceremony formally marks the assumption of that obligation, along with the corresponding right to take part in leading religious services, to count in a minyan (the minimum number of people needed to perform certain parts of religious services), to form binding contracts, to testify before religious courts and to marry.

A Jewish boy automatically becomes a Bar Mitzvah upon reaching the age of 13 years. No ceremony is needed to confer these rights and obligations. The popular bar mitzvah ceremony is not required, and does not fulfill any commandment. It is a relatively modern innovation, not mentioned in the Talmud, and the elaborate ceremonies and receptions that are commonplace today were unheard of as recently as a century ago."

I shared this with Brandon and explained that even though we are not Jews in an external fashion, we are spiritual Jews and should look to the deeper connotations of such facts. With that I believe we have entered into a new, deeper and more mature relatonship. My boy has now truly become a man and with that, I will strive even more to treat him as such.