Yesterday, Cara and I had the honor to attend the Bar Mitzvah of a former student of mine. It was a first for both of us and proved to be a wonderful occasion. We bagan the celebration in the morning with a religious service at a downtown hotel in Beijing. For the service women and men were divided and seperated by some planters in the middle of a modest sized room. The rabbi sang most of the prayers in Hebrew with a beautiful voice. For two hours Cara and I stood and sat trying to follow along with the readings with the help of a book in both English and Hebrew and some assistance from our more knowledgable neighbors. During the service, my former student read several passages from the Torah which is a very large scroll. He spoke of the story of Noah and the flood and followed a similar sing song reading as the rabbi. After the service, a lunch was hosted by the family. In addition to very nice food and drink there were several speaches from family members, the rabbi, and my former student. During the meal, the election in the States was the only topic of conversation. The man to my left has been working for the Democratic Party going door to door in rural Virginia to reach out to undecided voters. In the time since August he has sensed a change in attitudes about Obama and he felt strongly that Obama would surely win the election. At one point the rabbi joked about speaking on behalf of Obama, there were catcalls and clapping of agreement. If this small gethering is any indication, the Jewish community is solidly on the side of Obama. In fact, it seems the entire American faculty at our school are also Obama supporters. As an aside, we will be attending a post-election party at a friend's house on Wednesday, so win or lose we can make a toast, or drown our sorrows among friends.
When lunch was finished we went back home, about a 30 minute drive and played with Gabby for awhile. She stayed home with Chen Ayi (In China, the nannies, maids, etc. are called Ayi, it is a bit like Auntie) while were were away, and would be looked after by Chen when we went to our second part of the Bar Mitzvah celeberation, a dinner at a replica of a French Chateau! The hall for the initial reception was simply palatial. It was a three level rotunda with giant entryway stair, a gorgeous painted dome and giant crystal chandalier. The doors opened up to a large patio with gardens and fountains. A folk music group (two of the members are from Port Townsend, Washington) played traditional Jewish folk music which eventually turned into traditional Jewish dancing. Although I did not join in the dancing, I enjoyed watching the events unfold.
We were then lead to the dining hall which was huge and marble clad. We sat with several other teachers from our school and simply relaxed, drank wine (too much) and took in the cultural experience around us. The meal was entirely vegetarian with most items made to look like something else, but made of tofu. There were tofu meatballs, tofu sea cucumber, but also veggies in between courses. Overall the food was great. When we managed to get a ride back home at 10:30 the dancing and singing was still in full swing. I was very grateful we were able to join in this experience and felt honored to be included.
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