The names of guests at the bar mitzvah celebrations in my family
Of course, most people know what bat mitzvah is, which is what Jewish girls become when they turn twelve, or thirteen in some groups. As part of it, most families will hold a celebration for them. Three of my siblings, and myself, have had one, and my mother is very meticulous with recording, so there are a lot of lists, including who we invited. So I thought this would be interesting, as there is a lot of variety. I excluded family members, since there would be a lot of repetition, and you would be sick of seeing great-aunts Goldie and Henriette over and over again 😅
You will notice that there is repetition with the number of people.18 is a very lucky number, because it is the numerical value for the word for life in Hebrew. Because of that, it was like a family tradition that you invite 18 friends to your celebration. Excluding family, because otherwise you would be very limited. I haven’t really heard of other people doing this, but it’s what my family does. One of them did not have 18 people, that was mine, and it was because it took place in 2020, and my parents did not think it would be a good idea, so I had a smaller one. I also included our own names, just for fun, although obviously we weren't really guests at our own celebrations 💀
2020
Aviva, Bracha, Elsa, Feiga, Leah, Maya, Mehetabel, Keziah, Yetta, and Zoe
2021
Ahava, Amalie, Chana, Elizabeth, Emma, Eva, Gittel, Hedva, Leiba, Lielle, Melody, Miriam, Naomi, Nessa, Ruth, Sarah, Yael, Yaffa, and Zoe
2023
Alma, Asenath, Bina, Breindel, Esther (x2), Evie, Keren, Keturah, Liora, Malka, Noa, Rivka, Rosa, Shaina, Tova, Tzvia, Yocheved, and Zelda
2024
Aliza, Aviva, Bluma, Chaviva, Chaya, Eden, Elisheva, Elka, Hadassah, Hallel, Kinneret, Klara, Noa, Nechama, Rachel, Shira, Shoshana, and Yuval