Have Bar Mitvah Parties Gotten Too Extravagant?

Steve Tyler performing at a $10 million Bat Mitzvah for the daughter of David Brooks.

Some Jews think Bar Mitzvah party spending has gotten way too decadent, but maybe they're just jealous of little Carly Sandler, who made her Bat Mitzvah party entrance from the ceiling of Cipriani Wall Street, harnessed to a wire and dressed in a catsuit. According to the Post, she was then "serenaded by Jon Bon Jovi for 45 minutes—to the point where she was rolling her eyes at her mother, wondering when the aging rock star would cede the stage back to her and her girlfriends." "My husband did well that year and he was proud of himself, and he wanted to throw a huge party," her mother Liza Sandler tells the tabloid.

Sandler's younger daughter Ryan was also extravagantly feted last October at the Plaza, where she performed an elaborate dance routine dressed as Britney Spears, while a troupe of Cirque du Soleil performers entertained the crowd of 400. "It was a pretty amazing party," says Sandler. "You didn't know where to look, there was so much happening in the room. There were contortionists on the ceiling, performers walking on stilts—it was like going to a show."

Rabbi Alan Stein, the cantor of Temple Sinai in Massapequa, LI, tells the Post, "It's called 'Keeping up with the Steins. I think some of these families need to concentrate more on the 'mitzvah' and less on the 'bar.' " And Cantor Sherwood Goffin, of Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan, says, "I think it's a tremendous waste of resources, especially in today's world. There's so much poverty in the world and Jewish programming that could be supported." But one Jew defended his son's lavish Bar Mitzvah thus: "I am the child of a Holocaust survivor, and I want to celebrate this day. For my parents, such a thing would be unthinkable, so I want to celebrate for them. I want to go a little over the top."

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By John Del Signore in News on April 19, 2010 11:11 AM

Comments [rss]

asg749d

It is not only bar mitvahs that are going extravagant...quinceanera parties for 15 year old latino girls are resembling groom-less weddings. I don't blame the trend -with divorce rates going the way they are weddings are loosing their place as a once-in-a-lifetime event...what's left to replace the uniqueness quality of the occasion are these kind of initiatory events.

riri097

Just picking on jews today.

What about baptisms, last 2 I went to were in Russos on the bay, way over the top. Lets not even bring up communions.

What happened to a nice little rest or at home. Seems like all these parties are way over the top.

We live in a I could do one better world.

Tricksta

Well, single loser c*nts like Clarice City and Man Bat have to pick on tried-and-true ethnic minorities to make them feel better about themselves! If it's not Jews, it'd be Muslims or African Americans. Depends on who Dad lost another job to this week.

And no-talent hacks like JDS need to create hype around a non-story to cover the fact that they don't write for a real news blog.

Ted

What do people care if they throw money away? At least they are buying stuff.

I dislike this kind of thing as much as the next person, but they don't donate it to a good cause, the next best thing is to spread the wealth around by their purchases of goods and services. Sure the old money wasps don't do this (just about every other group of super-rich does) -- but tasteful stinginess doesn't help any of the rest of us.

Bitter Elitist

from the WSJ article:

Here in Gotham, Brooks is far less known for his legal troubles than for his conspicuous consumption. The New York tabloids call him “Bat Mitzvah” Brooks, for the $10 million bat mitzvah bash he reportedly threw for his daughter at the Rainbow Room, hiring rapper 50 Cent, Tom Petty, Aerosmith, Don Henley, and Kenny G. among others, to perform. He also reportedly changed out of an all-leather, metal-studded outfit into a hot-pink suede suit as the night beat on.

This is out and out child abuse.

steen

meh, I bet there are thousands of bar mitzvahs happening every weekend around here. You can't give me four examples of over the top ones (no matter how juicily over the top) and proclaim a trend. There have always been Eloises in this world who get whatever they want. This is no epidemic that's endemic to Jews, no matter how you try to paint it as such.

robingee

Treating your kids like celebrities really prepares them for the real world. Unless of course you plan on giving them a no-show job at your company and they never have to actually deal with the real world.

ribaldry

CARL, ITS GETTING COLD IN HERE. THROW ANOTHER JEW ON THE FIRE

mo

we need to teach our kids to be humble .if you want to spend 1 million give the kids a nice little party and take the rest of the money and have your kid pick charies or schools to donate it to . that will give them a better example to follow instead of over indulging the me,myself mentality many have today .

S.K.

My bar mitzvah was in a rundown shul, with only a few people present. The restaurant was equally humbling. My gift money went directly to pay for my clothes, food, and school.

In the face of these spoiled hedge fund Jews, my family could not be more proud.

Amanda Harletsch

wall street earned "bonus"?!

matty

Just goes to show, you can't buy class.

BDS=(Boycott.Divest.Sanction)

its a sad day when spoiling your kids with big party is justified by the...holocaust.

it reminds me of this book.

http://www.amazon.com/Holocaust-Industry-Reflections-Exploitation-Suffering/dp/1859843239

Professor_X

As silly as this stuff is, it creates more local service industry jobs than giving the girl a necklace and a Costco sheet cake for her B-Day would.

Bring it on. Rent that hall! Hire that caterer! Who cares how much they spend as long as it's paying NYC salaries.

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

LOL, Trickle down economics fails which is why St Vincent hospital is closing in one of the wealthiest areas of manhattan. West Village and Chelsea has a high tax base, wealthy residents and yet no HOSPITAL. :D. Yet lets not drive the wealthy away, Bloomberg says we must protect and nourish them.

theboneranger

this reminds me of people celebrating the opening of mcdonalds and duane reeds in harlem as 'bringing jobs' to harlem residents, as though these were actually the jobs that people should aspire to have.

im sure there are infinately better ways to spend a few million than to send it to the pockets of corny catering hall owners and a bunch of peons on minimum wage who get the crumbs.

John Clavis

Some of these millionaires made their millions on thr backs of our soldiers with bloated, cost-plus, no-bid defense contracts. These scum live the high life while our bravest wallow in crumbling rooms at Walter Reed. It's a disgrace.

The Man Bat

This might come as a bit of a shock to you, but ALL of America's wars really serve only one purpose, and that purpose can be found in the vaults of Wall Street. The Pentagon has a master, and it ain't the American Public.

valeriob

1973 called, they want their scapegoat back.

hotstepper

stupid question: how does WWII (we tried to make $$ by staying out of it) and Vietnam (total waste of time, $$, and lives) fit into that scenario?