TKCJC: Monday afternoon at the Heritage Center of the Jewish Community Campus, about 75 people came to share in the celebration as 100-year-old Harry Bassin became a Bar Mitzvah for the first time.
“It’s wonderful that his desire can be recognized and brought to fruition,” Rabbi Cohen said as the ceremony began.
Bassin just started taking Hebrew lessons in January? as part of the Jewish Community Center’s Heritage Center program. Soon after the classes began, Bassin’s Hebrew teacher, Tzivia Gaba, learned that Bassin was not able to have had a Bar Mitzvah at the traditional age of 13.
Bassin, who grew up in Kansas City, Mo., explained that his parents couldn’t afford to send him to cheder (Hebrew school).
“It encouraged me to see if I could arrange a Bar Mitzvah experience for him,” Gaba said.
“It is something in my life I had never counted on,” Bassin said. “I am thrilled with both the class and the idea of a Bar Mitzvah.”
“I think a lot of people are enthusiastic about me becoming a man at 100 years old,” he said, all dressed up and anxious for the ceremony to begin.