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| Sefer Torah (Photo by Willy Horsch) |
Although Kirk Douglas is 95 years old today, his spiritual life might have begun at age 83. That is when Douglas truly chose to become a bar Mitzvah (“son of the Commandment”).
Beingjewish.com reports that one doesn’t “have” a Bar Mitzvah,
but instead “becomes” a bar Mitzvah by joyfully fulfilling the
Commandments of the Torah. According to Wikipedia, this entails all 613 laws of the Torah, plus the Halakha (“talmudic and rabbinic law, plus customs and traditions”). The weighty expectation is that – at age 13 - a boy is now old enough to do all this. A girl generally matures more quickly, and is therefore expected to become a bat Mitzvah (“daughter of the Commandment”) at age 12.
However, life doesn’t always proceed according to schedule. Kirk Douglas’ youth was preoccupied with worldly struggles rather than spiritual ones. Wikipedia reports that during his
boyhood, Douglas “sold snacks to mill workers in order to earn enough money to buy milk and bread.” His parents were impoverished Jewish immigrants from what is now Belarus.
In his 1988 book, The Ragman’s Son, Douglas disclosed that “years back, I tried to forget that I was Jew.” This was partially because his community was urging him to become a rabbi, which seemed antithetical at the time to Douglas’ dream of becoming an actor. Regarding this, Douglas later said: "… it took me a long time to learn that you don’t have to be a rabbi to be a Jew."
During a Climbing the Mountain interview reported by aish.com, Douglas also admitted the following: I got frightened away from Judaism at age 14 after reading the story of Abraham and Isaac… I remember the picture in my Hebrew school book. Abraham with a long beard. In one outstretched hand holding a large knife, in the other – a frightened little boy. And that kid looked an awful lot like me!
It wasn’t until years later that a question by his son Michael began leading Kirk back to his Jewish roots.
Michael had asked, “Dad, where did our ancestors come from?” In realizing that he didn’t have any in-depth answers to this question, Kirk Douglas began seeking some. One day, while again pondering this question, Kirk’s eyes fell upon his collection of Chagall’s biblical lithographs. There, above his bed, were depictions of “Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Solomon, David, Rebecca, Rachel, Ruth, Esther…” At last, it dawned upon him. These were his wonderful (yet very human) ancestors who were “even more famous
than movie stars.” Despite their sins, they accomplished glorious things.
It was an “Aha!” moment from which Douglas never looked back. He began to revere what he had formerly
feared. He also came to the realization that the Torah embraced “love, compassion, kindness to strangers and the poor, the ideas of holiness of human purpose, a reverence for life and self-discipline…”
With this realization (and much subsequent study), Douglas was finally ready to become a true bar Mitzvah.
He had heard that “in Jewish wisdom a man gets to live 70 years and then he starts to live all over again.” At
age 83, Douglas therefore felt that he was again 13. It was then time to celebrate his spiritual renewal with a second Bar Mitzvah…
Resources
http://www.beingjewish.com/cycle/barmitzva.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halakha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_and_Bat_Mitzvah
http://www.aish.com/sp/so/48892702.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_Douglas
Copyright December 9, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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