Sunday, June 21, 2009

Minhag to bring knives to Bar Mitzvah?

There was an article in YNet English site dated 13th June 2009 entitled "Haredi man holds son's bar mitzvah in jail". It was about a Chareidi guy sent to prison in New York who somehow managed to hold a Bar Mitzvah for his son in the prison hall and invite his own guests which YNet tells us included many Rabbis.

Here is the link to the article: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3730585,00.html

Anyway, usually when you read an article in YNet about a religious guy you have to take it with a pinch of salt because YNet just live to bash religious Jews. The reporters writing these articles are all secular and completely ignorant of any Torah. Consequently the articles can sometimes be a huge source of amusement as they show their complete lack of understanding of Judaism and end up looking idiots. However, this article is bizarre even by their standards.

If anybody can tell me what the reporter was thinking when he wrote this, please let me know. I'd be fascinated. "Not only was the party itself a violation of prison rules, since prisoners are not allowed to hold private gatherings within the confines of the jail, but it turns out that many of the guests brought knives into the prison in order to enjoy the bar mitzvah feast, a gross violation of prison safety regulations."

A minhag to bring knives to a Bar Mitzvah? Possible explanations:

1. To cut the cake?
2. To have a second Bris Mila?
3. There is something that I've just thought of now. Maybe the prison doesn't allow knives in the dining hall just in case the prison inmates use them to start a fight. Maybe the guests were told to bring their own knives in order to eat their seuda? (I find this highly unlikely as I've never met a New Yorker who uses a knife when he eats LOL).

2 comments:

Lawrence Normie said...

"The reporters writing these articles are all secular and completely ignorant of any Torah."

Uhm, but one of the authors is called Rabbi Levi Brackman........

Reb Mordechai Reviews said...

Bouncer, the names up the top of the article are simply links to featured writers in the same section. On eof the links is Rabbi Brackman but he had nothing to do with teh article. The author's name actually apears under the headline in tiny greyed out letters.
See this as an example:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3750406,00.html