A Different Kind of Bar Mitzvah
By Rabbi David Hartley A Different Kind of Bar Mitzvah
By Rabbi David Hartley Mark
Yigal Allon (1918-1980) was born in Israel to immigrant Jews from Belarus. He grew up
in Kfar Tavor. As an adult, he fought against the British Mandate and later on behalf of the
nascent Israeli Army, at one point serving as acting prime minister before dying too young of a heart attack. Back then, when the time came for his bar mitzvah, his father took him into a bedroom and went into a locked drawer. He took out a heavy, antiquated-looking British pistol, handing it to his son.

“Let me show you how you will celebrate your bar mitzvah,” said the father to his son.
He then took young Yigal to a field where ripe wheat was in the process of being harvested.

“This is what you will do tonight,” he said. “You will sleep out here and guard the crops.”
He left the boy with a small bag containing bread and cheese and a bottle of water. The sun set. As the night fell, Yigal sat with his back to a sheaf of wheat, the pistol on the ground beside him. He watched the stars and was nodding off when he heard hoofbeats. He grabbed the pistol and rose to his feet. Three Arab fedayeen, riding horses, had pulled up; they dismounted and began grabbing the cut wheat and stuffing it into burlap bags.

Yigal was trembling, but he found the courage to stand up and point the gun at his
assailants. The Arabs ignored him; they worked quickly and remounted their horses.
“Stop or I’ll shoot!” Yigal managed, but his voice came out as a croak. The Arabs turned
their horses clumsily because they were so loaded down with the stolen wheat, but Yigal stoodand pointed the pistol as steadily as he was able.

“I—” Yigal managed, as the Arabs touched their heels to their horses. Suddenly, Yigal
heard a voice behind him speaking Arabic: “You dirty robbers! I will kill all of you!” followed by a shotgun-blast. One Arab fell dead; the others dropped the grain and sped away. Yigal’s father came out from his hiding place and hugged his son, who was sobbing.

“My son,” his father said, holding him close and kissing him again and again, “Now you
are my bar mitzvah boy, a true bar mitzvah boy.”

OUR RABBI - David Hartley Mark

WATCH RABBI MARK , To Life, L'Chaim #217 - Rabbi David Mark (You Tube)

Rabbi David Hartley Mark was born in New York City, and grew up on the Lower East Side, that legendary Jewish immigrant neighborhood, attending Hebrew Day School. He was first from his school, the East Side Torah Center, to attend Yeshiva University High School for Boys—Manhattan. David attended Yeshiva University, where he attained a BA in English Literature, a BS in Bible and Jewish Education, and a Hebrew Teacher’s Diploma (HTD). He spent his third year of college at Bar Ilan University in Ramat-Gan, Israel, where he developed a fluency in Hebrew, and toured around the country. He has also attained a Certificate in Advanced Jewish School Administration from the Hebrew College in Brookline, MA.

David attended the City University of New York Graduate Center, where he earned an MA degree from Queens College, as well as an M.Phil. degree, majoring in 17th Century English, specializing in the work of John Milton, as well as the Romantic Poets. A year teaching Hebrew School in a Reform temple in Brooklyn convinced him of his great love of Judaism, and he began attending the Academy for Jewish Religion, Yonkers, NY, where he was ordained a rabbi in 1980.

He met Anbeth, who was hired as temple secretary the same day he was hired to teach. They were married in 1978. They have two grown children, Tyler and Jordan, as well as a grandson, Aidan.

Rabbi Mark served pulpits in Warren, NJ, Fayetteville, NC, and Portsmouth, NH, in which last pulpit he spent 22 years, a record for that state. Seeking warmer climes, as well as closer family members, he and Anbeth took the pulpit of Temple Sholom in 2009. He also fulfilled a lifetime dream of teaching English at Keiser University in Ft. Lauderdale.  

OUR CANTOR - ANITA SCHUBERT

 

Cantor Anita Schubert, grew up in Queens and Lynbrook in New York, says it was a combination of her love for both singing and religion that led her to train to become a cantor. “I grew up in a conservative synagogue. My parents weren’t super religious,” she said. “I started going to shabbat services and never stopped. I learned the musical chants . . . all the right stuff. I picked it up and was able to lead services as well. When I was a teenager I was asked to be one of the adult leaders in the junior congregation. I graduated to running it.”

Although she found her niche leading her congregation, it never occurred to her to be a cantor. “I was the wrong gender until the 80s.” As for her musical style, “It’s mostly a cappella. But I have been accompanied by someone on guitar and piano.”

Her academic background includes both undergraduate and graduate courses in music theory, sight-singing, ear-training, music history, conducting, choral arranging, voice building for choirs, vocal training, as well as studying the piano and flute. Plus, “I began singing in choirs starting in the third grade.”

She also took college courses in Hebrew, modern Jewish thought and the history of Jewish music.

Schubert said although women had been taking cantorial courses, they were not considered cantors at first. However, things changed for the better when women were finally accepted into the Cantors Assembly, an international association representing the cantorial profession.

Schubert has been actively working as a cantor at various congregations around the nation for many years before her new position at Temple Sholom. She realizes her coming here will be an historic event for the local place of worship. And what will she bring to her new congregation? “My spirit, my choice of music. We have a lot of options. We go beyond the traditional.”

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    We are a modern, egalitarian congregation, and encourage full participation by women in synagogue life, as well as offer full access to Jewish worship and religious experience for all of our members. At the same time, we cherish our Jewish traditions, and work to preserve them as a precious legacy for ourselves and our children.

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