Friday was supposed to be an ordinary day at Miami’s Lubavitch Educational Center for Yaakov Anderson. The usual davening, classes, and mac and cheese lunch. Why should it be any different?
He knew his classmates wouldn’t have known that it had just been his birthday. They certainly wouldn’t have guessed it was his thirteenth, his bar mitzvah. Sure, it had been a special day for him personally, but without a grand bar mitzvah party to invite his friends to, he didn’t think they’d really care.
He didn’t think he even really needed a major party. Just a few months earlier, Yaakov—then Jonas—and his family had completed their geirus after a long journey to Yiddishkeit. It was a momentous occasion for the Oklahoman family who had chosen to leave their home and life behind to join Am Yisrael.
If he had already accepted Torah and mitzvos when he dipped in the mikvah in the summer, did he also need a whole to-do about his bar mitzvah so soon after?
That’s why he was completely shocked by the sight that met his eyes when he opened the doors of the lunchroom at LEC.
His friends, his teacher, and his principal had certainly not forgotten his bar mitzvah. Together, they had enlisted the help of friends and local vendors to pull off an incredible surprise party.
Yaakov’s eyes widened as he took in the scene. Elegant tables settings and fancy cupcakes (decorated by Mrs. Josephine Basher and her daughter Reena), beautiful balloon centerpieces (created by Mrs. Chaya Kapeluschnik), a large decorated cake (arranged by Mrs. Sarah Benhayoun and baked by Mrs. Nicole Elbaz of Cupcakes, Etc.), a gift of $270 worth of seforim (sponsored by Rabbi Levi Druin), and the beaming faces of his family and 83 seventh graders who were there to celebrate with him. “I was totally surprised!” Yaakov says.
The boys quickly pulled him into an exuberant dance to the pulsing beat of live music (keyboard by Moshe Pekkar and vocals by LEC alumnus Eli Weiss). Yaakov danced like he never had before, with his father, brothers, teacher, and friends, while his mother and sisters watched emotionally.
“Yaakov is a special boy,” says his principal Rabbi Yakov Garfinkel, who organized the event. “His exceptional middos tovos even earned him the coveted thirty-inch trophy for Best Camper in camp this summer—even though he didn’t attend the full session. When these LEC staff members and local vendors heard his story, they rallied together to donate their time and services to make him a special bar mitzvah. What an incredible community!”
As the boys took their seats for a delicious pizza lunch (sponsored by Mrs. Leah Spalter), Yaakov’s father spoke. “It hasn’t been a year since our family crossed the threshold into this sacred covenant,” he said. “We have emerged from being among the lost of the nations into the light of Am Yisrael.” For Yaakov’s classmates who have been keeping Shabbos and kashrus among all the other mitzvos from birth, it was inspiring to hear about a kid their own age choosing to take them on and navigating the intricacies of Jewish life. “Look at us now,” said his proud father, Mr. Andrew Anderson, “davening together, wrapping tefillin, and connecting to Hashem.”
“We really saw the hand of Hashem bringing us to this moment,” says Mrs. Pamela Anderson, Yaakov’s mother. The family came to Yiddishkeit after years of questioning their original non-Jewish faith and finding inconsistencies in its history and teachings. Leaving their non-Jewish religion and taking on Torah and mitzvos came at the cost of familial and communal relationships. But the Andersons, parents of nine and grandparents of six, ka”h, persevered, homeschooling their children and moving hundreds of miles away to be part of a Jewish community. “Through hashgacha pratis, we ended up moving in across the street from Chabad of Aventura South, and through the shluchim there, embraced Chabad Chassidus.”
As she watched her radiant son being carried on his teacher’s shoulders, hands locked with his father and brothers, surrounded by his friends, she noted, “The beis din who guided our conversion recommended LEC as a school for our children. Today I can see just why.”
