Never Too Late for a Bar Mitzvah

It is never too late to celebrate one’s Bar Mitzvah, not even at 82. When Benjamin Swig of Taunton, Mass. reached 13 in 1906 he could not celebrate his Bar Mitzvah because the small Massachusetts town had only eight Jews and no rabbi. However, he never gave up the idea of celebrating his Bar Mitzvah, and so he did, at 82, with a simple ceremony at the Western Wall.

Now a well known San Francisco philanthropist, Swig could afford to waive the rights for a Bar Mitzvah present, and contributed instead a $150,000 gift to the Jerusalem Foundation for a unique archaeological garden to be created in the city. The gift was handed to Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek, who is also chairman of the Jerusalem Foundation.