Glen Ridge 13-year-old Ben Gates, known in yo-yo circles as The Amazing Bob, had his Bar Mitzvah yesterday, and the whole affair was so unusual, and so outclassed the usual catering hall extravaganza, that we felt the need to report.

Of course, Ben/Bob did all the usual stuff, chanting Torah and the like, but remarkably he managed to seamlessly slip a yo-yo story into his Dvar Torah -- a perfect illustration for the parsha* he was teaching. And the Torah wasn't just passed down three generations --from a grandparent to parent to the Bar Mitzvah boy -- but four, starting with Ben/Bob's great grandmother.

The reception was an all-you-can-eat sushi fest at Sushi Hana in Montclair, and the entertainment was a yo-yo professional named John Higby, a Jim Carrey look-alike who, with his wife Rebecca, dazzled the crowd with high-energy feats of yo-yo derring do.

Shown above, the ceremonial challah tug-of-war between siblings, pitting The Amazing Bob against his little brother Evan. The contest is supposed to determine which child will be the most dominant in life. The rabbi pronounced Evan the winner (though it looked like a draw to us). If what the challah says is true, we can't even imagine what that Bar Mitzvah will be like.

*a portion of the Torah, or Jewish Bible, associated with a particular week in the calendar.

June 26, 2005 in Parties We Crashed | Permalink