Inspirational Bar Mitzvah...

This blog post is long overdue.

I think I procrastinated because I didn't know how to accurately sum up my feelings.

A few months ago, we were invited to the Bar Mitzvah of the son of our good friends, Matt and Dina Levitt.

In and of itself, that's a noteworthy event, but what made this one so remarkable was that the Bar Mitzvah Boy, Uriel, has Down Syndrome.

It is rewarding to attend these lifecycle events because you feel some degree of confidence that the values that are important to you and your community are being passed on, but it isn't too often that you feel inspired at the deepest level by the mere activity of the day.

What Uriel demonstrated by participating and leading the services, speaking, dancing, and more was a spirit of undeniable optimism and a desire to affect the world for positive change.

You see what he has accomplished and you look at your own life.

Then you ask yourself, "Have I really made the most out of what I've been given?"  "Do I  inspire others the way Uriel does?"

I just felt fortunate to be a witness and a participant in an event that clearly showed the divine beauty of every single person.