79 year old to celebrate Bar Mitzvah

CJN: Tomorrow morning (April 29) Larry Reiss will put on his new bar mitzvah suit, don his tallit and yarmulke, and be surrounded by friends and family as he approaches the bimah.Reiss, 74, is becoming a bar mitzvah at Menorah Park’s Sapirstein Sanctuary. A nine-year resident of Stone Gardens, Menorah Park’s assisted living facility, Reiss is fulfilling a dream that came true thanks to Menorah Park’s Second Winds Dream Program. This program enables residents on the campus a chance to fulfill their personal dreams in spite of physical or financial challenges. When Stone Gardens activities director Sarah Taub asked Reiss if he had a special wish, he indicated his desire to become a bar mitzvah. Taub contacted the Dream Team, and they immediately went to work. Menorah Park’s rabbi, David Bader, met with Reiss, who has special learning limitations, and the two of them determined how Reiss could fulfill his necessary religious obligations.“We decided that Larry will recite an aliyah (blessing before and after the reading of the Torah portion) when he is called to the Torah,” says Bader. “He also agreed to attend synagogue regularly and to contribute to our tsedakah box.”