Technology Meets Tradition: Prague, a Bat Mitzvah and an iPhone to the Rescue

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Safari Picture from Jewish Journal

A few years ago I received a picture from friends in my congregation. They were in Jerusalem for their daughter’s Bat Mitzvah. The the picture their daughter was standing on the Southern Steps of the Temple Mount wearing a tallit (prayer shawl) and holding a BlackBerry. It seems she left her speech in the hotel room in Jerusalem. Luckily, her mom had it on her Blackberry for safe keeping. Yes, a BlackBerry saved the day and her Bat Mitzvah.

Fast forward to last week. It seems when it comes to a smartphone saving the day during a Bat Mitzvah BlackBerries are out and iPhones are in. Here is the, slightly redacted for privacy, email from one of our long-time readers.

I know how much you love random tech stories so this is a great one. We are in Prague [and] are here to celebrate my niece’s Bat Mitzvah. We are… doing the ceremony. It’s time for my niece to make her speech about her Torah portion and the rabbi calls on her to speak. She says “I had something prepared but left it in the room so I guess I’ll have to wing it”. From the back of the room a family friend who is also with us says,”Wait, I have it”.

[Turns out] my niece emailed it to her last night to read it over and she had it on her iPhone. She hands my niece her iPhone and the Bat Mitzvah proceeds to read her entire prepared speech on it.

And, of course, the email ended with, “Sent from my iPad”. 🙂

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About the Author

Dan Cohen
Having a father who was heavily involved in early laser and fiber-optical research, Dan grew up surrounded by technology and gadgets. Dan’s father brought home one of the very first video games when he was young and Dan remembers seeing a “pre-release” touchtone phone. (When he asked his father what the “#” and “*” buttons were his dad said, “Some day, far in the future, we’ll have some use for them.”) Technology seemed to be in Dan’s blood but at some point he took a different path and ended up in the clergy. His passion for technology and gadgets never left him. Dan is married to Raina Goldberg who is also an avid user of Apple products. They live in New Jersey with their golden doodle Nava.