As you all know, there is a lot of planning that goes into your child’s Bar/Bat Mitzvah service and celebration. We all hope everything goes as planned and we aren’t thrown a curve ball!
We recently brought you an inspirational story from one family called, From The Hospital Bed To The Horah Chair. Thankfully, they were still able to celebrate and now have a great story to tell.
We recently heard from three other families with stories of Mitzvah Mishaps that we wanted to share. It is a reminder to keep things in perspective and how mind over matter can conquer all.
Family One:
Mitzvah Mom Deena celebrated her daughter’s Bat Mitzvah at Woodbury Jewish Center. Like most Moms and Dads, they wanted their family and friends to have a terrific time celebrating with them. At one point during the celebration, after the candle lighting, but before the montage, Deena’s husband lifted one of their female friends onto the dance floor platform. As he put her down, her high heel shoe got stuck and she started to fall back. Unfortunately Mom Deena was right behind her and she fell on top of her.
Deena immediately knew her face would be bloody and was very grateful to an employee who was standing by and witnessed everything. He quickly grabbed napkins so not a drop of blood got on her dress and whisked her away to a nearby room. Deena was able to tell her MC to keep the music playing and instructed her husband to keep the party going. Thankfully a physician guest was able to stop her nose from bleeding and she eventually went back to the party as if nothing happened. Two weeks later, when her nose was not healing, she found out it was broken and needed surgery to correct it. Guests had no idea this happened and looking back, she thinks she was able to will away the pain and still enjoy.
Family Two:
Like many of us, Mitzvah Mom Stephanie wore high heeled shoes at her son’s Bar Mitzvah. Even though her feet hurt, she continued dancing. Toward the end of the night, she switched into matching flip flops and at some point on the dance floor, she remembers rolling her foot. She felt it happen and knew something bad happened, but wouldn’t let that stop her from enjoying the rest of her son’s celebration. The next day she and her family hosted a brunch and her foot did look swollen and black and blue.
By Monday she needed to see a doctor and learned she did in fact break her foot. She spent 6 weeks walking around with a boot and now feels the moral of the story is to keep on your high heels, no matter how much your feet hurt!
Family Three:
Being lifted in the chair is part of the Horah tradition. Mitzvah Mom Reina tells us she was simply lifted up in the chair and all felt normal until she started to notice that she was tilting forward a bit.
The next thing she knew, she was literally being “ejected from the chair.” She thinks back in retrospect and has this to say, “Being lifted by men, is a no, no! They have no idea how to delicately balance a woman sitting in a chair and why do they find it necessary to go up and down? That is when I went flying!”
Luckily, Reina landed on her feet and was not wearing 5 inch heels. She adds, “It really could have been a disaster, but I got up, fixed myself and continued dancing. It was one of the best nights of my life and I can now look back and laugh.”
Did you have a Mitzvah Mishap at your child’s celebration? Let us know at info@MitzvahMarket.com.
Please see additional Mitzvah Mishaps sent in by our readers:
“At my younger son’s Bar Mitzvah about five years ago, my mother tripped coming down the steps from the bimah after her aliyah. At the lunch reception, we asked one of our guests, who’s an ER physician, to take a quick look at her. He told us to take her directly to the ER after the reception. It turned out she had a fractured arm. She was such a trooper – she must’ve been in a great deal of pain, but she didn’t want to ruin my son’s day.”
— Darcy Silvers, Pennsylvania
“I had a client that has a set of twins – one boy and one girl. They were having their party at a place in Chicago that is a furniture store with three floors. To make their grand entrance, the son was going to rappel down from the top and the daughter was to come into the event on the back of a motorcycle. Unfortunately that afternoon, the weather was inclement and the rider could not drive in from where he lived – so they made a quick change and she was brought into the event on a chaise like Cleopatra.”
— Cindy Rudman from NoteworthyNotes in Chicago, IL
“As a party planner, I get to see it all. Here are some of the Mitzvah Mishaps I can report on:
* The bus getting lost, delayed by traffic, stuck going up a hill to the Mitzvah celebration
* The DJ gave out beach balls & one hit a chandelier & pieces came off & hit someone & cut them
* People got carried away during the horah & flung someone into the band & she tore her dress
* Someone stepped on the Bat Mitzvah girls gown & it ripped
* The father of the Bar Mitzvah boy had a little too much to drink & started crying during his speech
* I have had a Bat Mitzvah girl have to find a new dress 2 weeks before her Bar Mitzvah due to a growth spurt (have experienced this with a boy as well, however it much easier to get a new suit)
* When they lifted the mother of the Bat Mitzvah girl up in a chair during the horah her bra pad insert (not sure what you call them) came out!
* The fire alarm, followed by the sprinklers went off during a party”
— Melisa Imberman, The Event Of A Lifetime Inc.
