Today He is a Man!
This morning we celebrated Andrew Krucoff’s Bar Mitzvah, 11 years late mind you, but hey, better late than never! And no briss was required either, so that was good too. Anyhow, I’m still too drunk to be clever, so lets just get on with the play by play, ok? In this first photo to the right, we see Andrew in his Bar Mitzvah regalia, tallis and teffilin (oy such naches) posing with a copy of Bar Mitzvah Disco. I think Roger Bennett owes Andrew a gift copy of the book now, for his Bar Mitzvah present. You in Roger? The boy will be back in New York in a couple of weeks – I’ll hook you up. Have your people call my people. We’ll do the lunch thing. But I digress …

Here’s the Bar Mitzvah Boy and Rabbi Ezra carrying the Torah! Oy! Such naches we were shlepping! Apparently, Andrew is the only grandchild on his Mother’s side to have a Bar Mitzvah. Can we expect more Krucoff’s in Jerusalem?

Here’s Andrew tryin’ to front like he’s all chill and stuff. Really, he’s nervous as heck and attempting to avoid crying. A Bar Mitzvah is an important milestone in any boy’s life, and a Bar Mitzvah at the Kotel, adjacent to the temple mount, Judaism’s holiest site, well, that’s got to be a tad emotionally overwhelming. When Krucoff’s dad was 13, before 1967, Jews couldn’t even be here!

Aw… there’s Andrew reading his prayer! Laya in the ladies section threw candies at him. The Old ladies asked her who the Bar Mitzvah boy was – when she pointed to Krucoff, they were all “he’s 13 and has a beard already? What do you feed him?” Try to explain Lower East Side secular Jews to these people. not so easy …

Here are guests Harry and our Michael flashing gang hand signals. Probably in protest of former Crips leader Tookie’s execution in California. Or maybe they were trying to be funny. Ha ha.

Another dude reading our copy of Bar Mitzvah Disco. He looked perplexed. To say the least.

And now it’s time to celebrate! American Apparel and Dov Charney provided Vodka, Arak and pastries for everybody! Literally. A whole crew of Hassidic Jews suddenly appeared and helped themselves. But it’s all good. Food and Vodka bring people together and Dov Charney’s t-shirt fuelled largesse knows no bounds!

Reb Ezra and his star pupil enjoy a nice L’Chaim! Mazel Tov!

Yup. Dude’s totally hammered. Just like a real man!

Here’s the gang – from L to R, Harry from a View from Here, Michael finishing off the last of the Arak, Krucoff finishing off the Vodka, me, laya and Mobius from JewSchool. Funny Moby… Moby also made an awesome video of the event – check it out on Young Israelite featuring a soundtrack by 50 Shmekel. Hilarious! Party continues tonight at Kikar Tzion at 10:30 pm and at Midnight at Delia on 4 Shlom Tsiyon Hamalkah. be there or be square in the diasporah!

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About the author

ck

Founder and Publisher of Jewlicious, David Abitbol lives in Jerusalem with his wife, newborn daughter and toddler son. Blogging as "ck" he's been blocked on twitter by the right and the left, so he's doing something right.

49 Comments

  • Mazel tov Andrew (Aaron) on your big day, may you take this higher and higher. Are you going to reunite with us in Long Beach? CK-The pictures are wonderful.

    Thank you Jewlicious for a truly inspiring event!

    Now all you have to do is download the Podcast. Subscribe to the JTB2 podcast on itunes with this URL: http://rabbiyonah.audioblog.com/rss/jtb2.xml and the rest is Jewish audio history. Hear play by play from Laya, as she peers over to catch the action. Hear the Bar mitzvah boy called to the Torah. Hear the fantastic singing! (Reb Shlomo is so sheping naches from the melodies.) Its a mitzvah!

  • Don’t forget about that gooey chocolate cake there that was fine too. Thanks for having me around, I enjoyed myself, and probably wouldn’t have made it to the Kotel. Yeah that Russian Vodka rocks, thanks Charney!

    Weren’t too many speeches either!

  • Is it Dalia or Dalila? Because if it’s Dalia, it’s like me.

    Great photos, guys. And amazing that technology can let so many people become a part of the simcha. If only Willy Wonka had perfected the art of sending Arak via podcast…

    As usual, I’m jealous.

  • Saw the clip on Charney on the American Apparel website…I’m so ready to move to L.A. He is all hyper and manic…I love that! And he doesn’t draw a big salary from the company to live an obnoxious lifestyle…so cool!
    See Ofri, money is good…you can use it to make bar mitvahs for underpriviledged lower east siders. I don’t know who’s feeding you the propaganda that all rich people are evil.

  • Leave it to a Morroccan to say “schlepping naches”.

    It’s “shepping naches”, no “l”.

    I mean, I love ya, ck, your site rocks, and I’m in awe of the fact that you and Mobius can manage to get along, but if even an am ha’aretz like me can find an error in your Yiddish, you’ve got a problem.

  • You do realize that he became Bar Mitzvah upon turning. It’s not an event but an age. Of course, nothing wrong with some Torah celebrations.

  • I was so going to point out that shep/shlep error, but I’m glad Ephraim did it. Now maybe I can share my title as Spelling & Grammar Fascist. As you can see, it’s a big job, and there’s plenty of work for both of us.

  • Michael! What have you done to yourself?!?! Get home immediately, we need to talk!

  • Mazel Tov to Krucoff! But, I just wanted to point out the Reb Ezra link is down. Ezra’s the man, and his shabbos table is something that needs to be experianced by everyone. So if your ever in Israel, get in touch with him and go for shabbos… Which I suppose would be easier if that link worked…

  • Mobius, where’s the picture of you davening at the Bar Mitzvah with your “special” tallit? 😉

  • Mazel Tov Krucoff! Now I to may dream of a better late than never Bar mitzvah!

  • yes amechad, my parents made me fully aware at 13 that i didn’t need to go through the service or have a party to be bar mitzvah. (cheap, atheist bastards that they were.) the more significant aspect of yesterday’s event was that it was the first time i’ve ever been called to read from the torah. also, like i often say about blogging, i’m only in this for the free drinks. (cheap, not-quite-an-atheist bastard that i am.)

  • btw ck thanks for the comment on the site, see my first comment to this post for info on the podcast of the bar mitzvah. great speaking with you guys. really looking forward to feb. I want to chat it up at hillel conference ya know, so a card wouldnt be all that bad eh? Sorry to interject this into the bar mitzvah post…

  • to all other bloggers around the world who dare to follow in the prodigious footsteps of mr. krucoff, i await you with GLEE….. good shabbos good shabbbos….

  • mazel tov andrew!! i’m so sorry i couldn’t make it to the kotel for your bar mitzvah fun (stupid german class!)– anyway, welcome to Jewish manhood!

  • Sorry I missed this but I was packing to come to the US. Oy! Ok, that’s a lie. It was at 8:00 – double oy!

  • JOHN!! We totally missed you. I’m off to Moscow/Montreal/NYC Sunday morning, but when I get back – party time! And you can tell us all about how much fun x-mas in NC was. Deal?

  • hopefully the site will be up within the next month– whole lot happenin here in the not so young city– thanks for the thought–

  • ck, how is it that you score free drinks, disco bar mitzvah books and t shirts from dov charney in seconds? you got him on speed dial on your israeli cell phone?

    michael i never knew you BIC your hair!

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