WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BAR MITZVAH BOY?
Dear Cyber Rav, My son is extremely shy. He is typically quiet in general, but when he gets into a crowd, he shuts down, PERIOD. In school, his teachers know not to call on him to recite anything before the class. He’s not dumb. Thank God—his grades are the best in the class. But he is saddled with a shyness that gets in the way of his socialization. My husband and I are working on it together with a therapist. The thought of a Bar Mitzvah terrifies him. We went to a cousin’s Bar Mitzvah recently in New Jersey and he turned to me at one point and whispered “I don’t have to do this—do I?” The look on his face was the picture of extreme anxiety. It breaks my heart. What do we do? He’s 10, soon to be 11. We have a date, naturally, for the reception and what Jewish kid hasn’t had a Bar Mitzvah? Ours may be the first. Can we have a Bar Mitzvah in our living room with just my husband and myself, my daughter and a rabbi? A Worried Mommy Dear Worried Mommy, When I was a kid, I actually went to
