Tag: bat-mitzvah
How Not To Win Congregants and Influence People
Folks may remember how, a while back, I wrote that neither of the congregational rabbis would be available for my daughter’s Bat Mitzvah, and thus we were having a long-time family rabbi work with us instead. Today (according to my wife), we just found out that the congregational cantor won’t be available either. Luckily, we were prepared for that, and we’re having one of nsshere’s teachers (who happens to be a cantor) fill in.
Her Bat Mitzvah will have a theatre theme. Yes, we are handing out slips that say “This morning, the role of Congregational Rabbi will be played by …, and the role of Congregational Cantor will be played by …”.
Given that we’re fighting them over the reception time, and they are pulling this stuff on us less than 5 months before the ceremony… we’re likely going to be looking for another congregation come next year. We already have an idea where (as long as they realize we’ve already paid our building fund commitment there during a previous membership with that congregation).
One More Vendor Taken Care Of…
We now have a photographer for nsshere‘s Bat Mitzvah. Tonight we met with the owner of Eugene Photography in Sherman Oaks, and it was a match. Not only do we like his work and his style, but he’s just a fun person to talk to. He’s a CSUN grad, he takes pride in his work (rare, these days), and he does little things that impress us (for example, printing the final product on high-quality Kodak paper using photographic techniques, so the photos will last). He was also committed to lifetime customers: we were surprised when he let us know that not only do we get Bat Mitzvah pictures as part of the package, but we also get a lifetime commitment to a free anniversary photo, free family photos at holiday time, and discounts on future services. Sure, he’ll make money selling copies of those photos, but it is a commitment to a long-term relationship that is nice to see. Lastly, he had a great sense of humor.
P.S. to otaku_tetsuko: Yes, he vaguely remembered your wedding.
P.P.S.: Arrrrr. Mateys take heed: thar’s under two bells until Talk Like A Pirate Day. Ye has been warned!
There Are No Mistakes
One of our favorite sayings for many years was, “There are no mistakes…”. The meaning of this phrase was that somehow the universe works itself out; what may seem like a puzzling or problematic situation ends up being for the better.
We just had one of those situations.
Yesterday, after my daughter’s Bat Mitzvah lesson, we received a call from our congregational rabbi. They schedule B’nei Mitzvot over a year out, figuring one or the other of the two rabbis will be available. It turned out there was going to be a problem for our date (12/22). Originally, Rabbi Jim was going to be unavailable, and Rabbi Sarah would do the service with Cantor Alan. However, they’ve been trying for two years to get a congregational trip to Israel together, and the only time they could do it (with Rabbi Sarah leading it) was over the weekend scheduled for our Bat Mitzvah. Could we reschedule our date?
Now, note that we’ve already told out of town relatives the date; we’ve already signed the contract with the caterer and DJ. The rabbi indicated they would take care of any cancellation fees or date change fees. Could we change the date?
We told him we couldn’t, and asked him if it would be OK if we found a Rabbi to substitute for him, as neither of the congregational rabbis could be there. He said that was acceptable.
So, we called our good friend Rabbi John Sherwood. John was the rabbi at Temple Emet of Woodland Hills; he retired in 1993 after a coup d’état merger created Kol Tikvah. He’s been a long-time family friend: he performed my wife’s first marriage; he performed our marriage; he performed the naming ceremony for my daughter; he did my father’s funeral. He is (in short) our family rabbi. John indicated he would be delighted to officiate for us (and that he won’t be able to stay for the reception… so as we were going to invite him to the reception anyway, we get to see him). He also indicated that he worked with Cantor Alan many years ago. Both Rabbi John and Cantor Alan have email (we introduced John to the Internet), so they can coordinate that way. In short, win-win.
Additionally, we know from Rabbi Jim that the other family schedule for our day (evening service) was rescheduling their ceremony. This means the problem we had about having to vacate the social hall early may be going away, and we don’t have to worry about that.
There really are no mistakes.