Spencer is one of my daughter Megan’s best friends. They met in third grade when they were grouped together in the school’s gifted program. They get each other, and challenge each other and are very much like siblings. So much so that when Spencer misses school for Jewish holidays, other kids have asked Megan why she wasn’t home too, because they thought they were really siblings.
Spencer’s Bar Mitzvah was supposed to be in March. They’d all been looking forward to it for years. Then Covid happened and the world shut down. They rescheduled for June, but then that wasn’t safe either. Finally, Spencer’s family and synagogue decided to set a date for August 8 for a modified version of the Bar Mitzvah, covid style.
Only 25 people were allowed at the service, so it was only close family and Spencer’s best friends. Masks were required and families were spread out through the synagogue. The service was live streamed so that those who could not attend could watch from home.
I personally thought that despite all the changes, it was perfect. I recently read an article about how the pandemic may permanently change weddings as people are decided that the smaller, more intimate weddings that Covid has required are actually better than the large events they’d originally planned.
I am sure that there are so many more people that Spencer and his family would have loved to share the day with, but there was something special about the service that came from being a more intimate group of people. Spencer & Erin’s speaches had us in tears and it was a beautiful celebration of an amazing young man. Mazel Tov, Spencer!
I want to note that cameras were not allowed at the service. All of my photos are from the Thursday before when I was able to take photos inside the synagogue. I added a few phone pics from the actual ceremony of Spencer, my daughter Megan and their friends.
