May / June 2006:

Haftorah memories
When we asked a few celebrities to tell us about their bar and bat mitzvahs, we got a wide variety of answers with everything from cotton candy trees to a humiliating Tuesday.



Carl Reiner: "I had a bootleg bar mitzvah. I went for six months to a rabbi who taught me. I learned the letters but I couldn't really read. On a Thursday morning before mincha, I was bar mitzvahed in front of ten old Jews who made a minyan. Then I felt guilty for the rest of my young life because there was a storefront shul right across from the house and they were always looking for a minyan and I never could be in a minyan because I couldn't read from the siddur. I would fake it when I was praying."

Lindsay Sloane: "I wore a God-awful pink strapless gown with a big bow on the side. The theme was Hollywood which makes me gag now that I think about it."

Greg Grunberg (Alias): "My bar mitzvah was a huge memory for me. I loved the performance of it. It was exciting for me, a big challenge. Back then I didn't know I was going to act but it was a lot of fun. I loved the theatrics of it."

Lisa Loeb: "I was raised Reform. I had cotton candy trees and a roller skating party."

Richard Lewis: "My father was the Babe Ruth of caterers and he was booked on the weekend so I had to have mine on a Tuesday. Very humiliating."

David Krumholtz (Numb3rs): "I got a standing ovation at my bar mitzvah. There was a time when I was desperate to get away from my Jewishness, but now I embrace it."



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