Reply #2: There was an article about this not too long ago in the... [View All]

Jewish Times here in Baltimore. It is becoming more popular these days.

I know a family that actually stopped belonging to their synogogue 6-8 months before their son's Bar Mitzvah. Instead, they've hired a tutor for their son and a rent-a-Rabbi and they're having their son's Bar Mitzvah on a Saturday night at a hotel instead of at a synogogue. They say that their synogogue just wasn't giving them what they needed from it.

I find that very sad. I cannot imagine having my son's Bar Mitzvah (Feb 2006) that way. What kind of bond can a child form with his/her Rabbi, the synogogue, the Jewish religion as a whole, when he/she is not attending services, religious school, etc. My kids have made so many friends through religious school and they've learned so much about their religion and themselves. You can't do that with a rent-a-Rabbi in my opinion.

I can semi-understand doing it if you live in an area where there aren't other Jews, there is a lack of Jewish support, there are few synogogues, etc. But, otherwise, I don't get it.

Debbi