Tag #127666 - Interview #89861 (Dan Mizrahy)

When the time of my religious coming of age, the bar mitzvah, drew near, my father wanted to observe the tradition and programmed this ‘confirmation’ ceremony at the Spanish temple. For this, he hired me a Hebrew teacher named Cohen who taught the Tannakh at the school of the Spanish Jews’ community, on Negru Voda Street. Mr. Cohen was rather young, punctual and fair, and came to our place in the evening. He always found me tired after a day of school, homework and playing… However, I obeyed. So, when I turned 13, the ceremony took place; I found myself on the altar of the temple, where I read various prayers in Hebrew, then I held a speech in Romanian, which had been prepared by the rabbi, committing myself before the rabbi to observe the faith and the precepts of the holy writs. Everyone congratulated me and we had champagne and wafers in the festivity room. Happy and relieved, I went home to change my clothes and went straight to the cinema.