Roi's Bar Mitzvah Party

Last night, I literally went to the best bar mtizvah party that I have ever been to. The bar mitzvah boy, Roi, is a cousin of my husband Shachar. He is half Morrocan and half Yemenite, and the liveliness of his bar mitzvah party illustrate this point. In fact, it was so lively, it could have been a wedding. This party, which took place in Nahariyya near the Lebanon border, started out with lots of appetizers. I remember snacking on cous cous, raviolli, Arabic bread, cigars, eggrolls, chicken with peppers, etc. Then, after the appetizers, every one sat down as Roi's mom, Sylvia, Roi's father Raffi, and Roi's sisters Shany and Sivan walked towards the front in the most beautiful outfits. Then, Roi was brought in on a special chair carrying a torah schroll, as a series of special effects went into place, with Mizrachi music in the background. After that, they lit some candles in Roi's honor, they did a l'chaim to him and then there was dancing. After a bunch of dancing, we sat down and had the first course of the meal, where I ate some fish. Then, there was more dancing, where I even got to do Yemenite traditional dancing, before we sat down again to have a second course, where I ate chicken shnitzel with salad and Arabian rice. And after that, we concluded with a henna ceremony. Every one changed into Morrocan costumes. I got to dance in with Morrocan candies, along with Shachar, Leah (my mother-in-law), Sylvia, and a bunch of other people. Shachar's Aunt Funny got to dance in with the henna lit by a candle. Roi came in a special chair. Then, there was a special ceremony to put henna on the hands of Roi, and then every one else. I also got to put henna on my hand, it was so fun. We danced all the while and snacked on traditional Morrocan pastries. And that was the bar mitzvah party. Not this weekend, but the weekend after, I will return to Nahariyya to go to the actual bar mitzvah of Roi and the shabbat qatan-like ceremony afterwards. Roi plans on reading from the Torah with a Yemenite accent. I am so excited to hear him.