Noa’s Bat Mitzvah! Mazel Tov!

Our youngest daughter Noa just celebrated her Bat Mitzvah 8 months after her 12th birthday but right on time.

This is how the story goes.

Noa was born on the 3rd day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei. The first day of that month being Rosh Hashanah and all, we planned to celebrate after the wave of seasonal holidays. And then, on the last day of the last holiday of the most joyous time of the Jewish calendar year, October 7th happened. In the freefall and aftermath, her Bat Mitzvah, understandably kept getting pushed off.

She never complained, never asked why and after a few months, every month or so, we would entertain another idea about how best to celebrate this momentous occasion. In the end Noa decided on something intimate and small and meaningful and memorable, something that felt right given the current climate.

We settled on a one night family getaway in the middle of the week (because missing school is such a present in and of itself!). We “traveled” 35 minutes to our favorite place on earth, Jerusalem and checked in to our favorite hotel in that city: The Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem.

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Now the question was how do we make this just a touch more special for the birthday girl. The first thing I did was call the Personal Concierge (when you make a reservation at the Waldorf you are immediately contacted by your very own “assistant” who will take care of your every need). I let them know it was Noa’s Bat Mitzvah (make sure anytime you travel you always let them know when you are celebrating a special occasion!) and that we’d love to have a little something special in the room when she arrives. Something small and tasteful and not over the top but something nonetheless.

When we arrived –it’s always a “thing” among the younger ones who gets to open the door with the card key – and this time it was no question, Noa had the honors. So she was the first to enter (I wish I could have captured her face and surprise) to see her “12” balloons, tiered sweet treats and fruit platter along with a surprise I hadn’t even seen coming – a gift from the hotel.

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Avner On the General Manager of Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem (and longtime friend) gifted Noa with a wrapped Hazorfim jewelry box encasing a matching hamsa necklace & bracelet set. We were floored. Noa immediately put it on and now wears it every day.

Our special gift to Noa was a family swim. We rented-out the luxurious Waldorf Astoria pool for a private swim. We didn’t invent the idea, btw – for special occasions and upon availability the pool can be rented in 90 minute increments. You can’t imagine how much fun it was to “own” the pool for that hour and a half. Not once did I have to tell my kids to be quiet or that they were being too wild (that was my gift for the day).

Here we are almost ready to hop in. We brought more paraphernalia and gear than people! (Yet somehow it still wasn’t enough!!!)

After as much fun as you could possibly have in 90 minutes we ran back to the room to get ready for a special dinner.

Our first choice would have been the private room at the Palace Restaurant at the lobby level of the hotel. It’s amazing for special private occasions. We enjoyed my mother’s sheva brachos there (reminder she was married at the Waldorf) and I have hosted influencer events in that space as well. It’s big enough, intimate enough and certainly gorgeous enough!!! It will be reopening in the fall so until then and for this night we had to make other arrangements.

To make the dinner special we each prepared a few words to say about Noa and took turns speaking between courses. This was amazing because everyone spoke and from the heart – which would not have been the case if we were in front of a big crowd. And, the cherry on top of the icing on top of the cake was that Noa didn’t have to stress over a Bat Mitzvah speech for weeks on end. We praised her and she soaked it  all in a way that she could never have if she had been in public.

We also printed Bat Mitzvah benchers. It was such a nice touch because not only will she have them as a memory of her big day but we printed enough for her to gift to her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. She so enjoyed sharing this piece of her special occasion with everyone, even after the fact.

It was an amazing day and night that ended with a lazy morning (no rush to the bus) and the most lavish breakfast spread in Jerusalem that filled our bellies for the rest of the day.

The best part is that we all agreed it was THE BEST BAT MITZVAH EVER!

MAZEL TOV NOEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!