Bat Mitzvah in Aruba

Magical Aruba mitzvah

         Bat Mitzvah in Aruba

We took my daughter's bat mitzvah on the road to Aruba and wow was it amazing! The big party celebration was planned for our home city with a larger group of her friends & family, but we opted for a more intimate and meaningful mitzvah in an old Sephardic  synagogue, Beth Israel Synagogue, located in Oranjestad, Aruba.

Beth Israel Synagogue is an independent congregation with a liberal style similar to Reform Judaism or Conservative Judaism. The community consists mostly of Jewish immigrants that arrived in Aruba from different parts of the world, and made it their home. After 1924, a large group of Ashkenazi Jews, from Eastern Europe , mostly Poland, settled here, together with Jews from the Netherlands and Sephardic  families from another Dutch colony at that time.The community opened a Jewish center in 1942 – the Jewish Country Club – and four years later, with the arrival of some Holocaust survivors, the community was officially organized.

As of March 2013 Beth Israel Synagogue engaged the services of Rabbi Daniel Kripper who was originally from Argentina. After his ordination at the Latin American rabbinical seminary in Buenos Aires, Argentina, He spent 3 years in Jerusalem, where he took postgraduate courses at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Rabbi Kripper served as a spiritual leader in different communities including The Ari, The New Israelite Congregation in Uruguay, Temple Adath Shalom in Pittsburgh, PA and Temple Beth Shalom in Palm Dessert, Ca. He has published many articles and several books and siddurim to comfort the sick. Up to his relocation to Aruba, Rabbi Kripper was the academic coordinator of the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary. In 2003 he received an honorary doctor of divinity degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

Prior to the mitzvah, Rabbi Kipper was in constant contact with my daughter, myself and her Hebrew teachers at home to coordinate and oversee her Torah study, and preparation for the bat mitzvah service. He listened to her chant her portion and assisted with her speech and enhanced her understanding of her parisha. Rabbi Kripper was kind, thoughtful and dedicated to ensure my daughter had a fulfilling experience as she moved toward her BIG mitzvah day. We all felt prepared and eager with excitement as we counted down the days to the service and great adventure in Aruba.

Upon arrival my family met privately with Rabbi Kripper and had our first look at the beautiful synagogue, complete with a stunning bimah with fresh flowers and gorgeous stained glass, perfect for fantastic pictures! We all were so excited and happy with our choice to pick Aruba as our destination mitzvah.

Mitzvah day was incredible, we had a small group of family with us and Rabbi Kripper and his staff were dedicated to ensure everything ran smoothly, they had prepared home made challah for the kiddish and beautiful flowers through out the sanctuary. It was warm and everything we had envisioned. We had hired a professional photographer & videographer, we was perfection!

This was a magical event and after we were able to dine at a local fantastic restaurant and celebrate this great mitzvah. As we all sang out Mazel Tov, we knew this was where we belonged for this milestone celebration. Bonus was that over the next few days we soaked up the sun, explored, and enjoyed all the magic of Aruba !!

Destinations and celebrations can be taken on the road!! Let's plan your special event.