An amazing sea of guests filled the Bet Chabad rooms in Cascais, Avner Cohen Casa Chabad, a house that is open to all those wishing to study the history of the Portuguese Jews and to participate in its many activities. This time, on 15 June, there was a great party: the Bar Mitzvah of Mendel, son of an American couple who came to enjoy Jewish life in Portugal: Rabbi Eli and Raizel Rosenfeld.
Without the huge persistence and dedication of Rabbi Eli and his wife it would not have been possible to build the first Bet Chabad in Portugal. Both before and during the Seudat Mitzvah, heartfelt speeches by Mendel’s grandparents and parents and by Mendel himself marked the day of his thirteenth birthday, when the divine soul is revealed with greater intensity, exercising superior influence, making him accountable for fulfilling mitzvoth.
In Sharit, celebrated at the Shaare Tikvah Synagogue in Lisbon, on Thursday 15 June, the Sefer Torah open for the ceremony arrived with a well-known family history: having wandered the world for over a century, for generations, the Sefer was brought so that Mendel could read that part of the Torah corresponding to the day marking his transition from childhood to adulthood. Mazal tov!
