My host family, Eli (who was also staying with Iftach), and I woke up early to drive across the country to a kibbutz outside of Haifa.
After being introduced to the entirety of my host’s family, the “service” finally began. This “service” was nothing like an American traditional service because it was full of joy, song, and celebration. When I asked Iftach what the service would be like he responded with “what’s service? This bar mitzvah with no religion”. At first I had a hard time imagining a non-religious bar mitzvah considering the basis for a bar mitzvah is religion. After the small group of about 70-80 people finished their songs and reading Torah I began to realize what Iftach meant when he said that. This celebration was more of a glorified birthday party than a religion based celebration.
I realize now that a large group of Israelis don’t recognize a god or even bring this religious culture into their every day lives. This bar mitzvah as well as many others like it represent how many Israelis like and utilize Israeli culture but not necessarily Jewish religion. While this trip has taught me a lot, one major takeaway is that not all Israeli-Jews observe and celebrate holidays and traditions the same way. This is just a part of normal life in Israel.