A bar mitzvah in the...
Illustration
A bar mitzvah in the Jewish tradition is filled with a sense of God's calling. A twelve-year-old boy stands before the congregation to accept what has been handed down to him by generation upon generation. They tell about his great-great-
great-grandfather who came to this country and worked hard to make a name for himself and to provide a good life; then the next son picked up the reins and continued the work, and the next son, and so on down to this twelve-year-old boy who stands as the recipient of this rich, unbroken tradition. Implicit in that heritage and calling is a sense that he must now pick up those reins, put his shoulder to the plow, and continue the work, so he will be able to hand it down to his children. Each of us are called to stand in that line of rich inheritance; as each of us has generously received, so we are called to give generously. Responsibility underlies a sense of being called by God.
-- Owen-Gemoets
great-grandfather who came to this country and worked hard to make a name for himself and to provide a good life; then the next son picked up the reins and continued the work, and the next son, and so on down to this twelve-year-old boy who stands as the recipient of this rich, unbroken tradition. Implicit in that heritage and calling is a sense that he must now pick up those reins, put his shoulder to the plow, and continue the work, so he will be able to hand it down to his children. Each of us are called to stand in that line of rich inheritance; as each of us has generously received, so we are called to give generously. Responsibility underlies a sense of being called by God.
-- Owen-Gemoets
