FC Life February, 2017

SHERM LEVIE brings us this wonderful article. 75th ANNIVERSARY OF THEIR BAR MITZVAHS

In the fall of 2016, five members of Frenchman’s Creek learned that they were all born within a few days of each other in the last week of January and the first week of February in 1929. They now realize that this year they all will be eighty-eight years old. In addition to having a birthday party, they can now celebrate the 75th anniversary of their joint Bar Mitzvahs. SEYMOUR BRODE, DON BROWN, MORT CORWIN, SHERM LEVIE and FRANK SPITALNY not only planned a gala dinner in the Grill Room with their mates, but thought that they would recall something about that precious day. After all, it was a few short weeks after Pearl Harbor which day was certainly not as important as the “Bar Mitzvah Boys” own ‘ day of infamy’ that took place in early 1942. Although abbreviated in this article, here are some of their recollections of the day that they shared. Seymour celebrated his Bar Mitzvah in a very conservative synagogue during the High Holidays that year. The congregation stood up and started applauding. That action was certainly unheard of in that conservative synagogue. In looking around, the congregants noticed Hank Greenberg, the star Detroit Tiger baseball great had arrived for Rosh Hashanah services. What a great memory for a thirteen-year-old. Don on the other hand had his Bar Mitzvah in a very reform synagogue. He studied his reading from the Torah with his rabbi for almost a year. As Don recalls, it was a short portion and he easily memorized it. On the day of the Bar Mitzvah, Don’s rabbi was called away and the head rabbi of Washington, D.C. came as a substitute, When the time came for Don to recite his portion, the substitute rabbi started to search for the correct location in that weeks’ Torah reading. Don realized the rabbi’s dilemma, so started to recite his easily memorized Torah portion, amazing the astonished substitute head rabbi who was still looking for the correct place. MORT remembered that his Bar Mitzvah was attended by relatives and friends of his parents. He doesn’t recall any of his own friends being there. He did, however, receive several gifts from those who were at the synagogue. Although the gifts were varied, there were two that were most prominent and often repeated. Being right after Pearl Harbor, there were many $25.00 U.S. War Bonds. The second were several Parker 51 Fountain Pens. Mort presented each of the “Bar Mitzvah Boys” with their own personal gift of a brand new pen.

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