Logan Botvin attended his first bar mitzvah this past weekend—and it happened to be his own.
Held at the Chabad Jewish Community of Korea in Seoul, it was a chance to show friends and community members what being Jewish was all about. He was called to the Torah during Saturday-morning services, which were attended by his immediate family, and then joined by community members and friends on Sunday for a celebration. Relatives living in the United States stayed up late and used technology to participate in the festivities remotely.
Logan, who turned 13 in April, lives in the city of Songdo, more than an hour from the country’s capital of Seoul. As far as he knows, he’s one of two Jewish students at the middle school he attends (an estimated 1,000 Jews live in a country of 50 million people). A few months ago, he decided to learn the blessings and study with the rabbi, so he could share his connection to Judaism with family and friends.
His parents, Victoria Botvin and Darren Dorkin, had suggested the bar mitzvah celebration, though they weren’t sure how it would take shape. The family, which also includes 10-year-old Natasha, is American but has been living abroad for five years, the last two in South Korea.
“I don’t think we really knew what we would do as far as our kids celebrating a bar or bat mitzvah,” Victoria Botvin tells Chabad.org, adding that while she and her husband grew up going to Hebrew school and Friday-night services, neither continued with religious practice into adulthood. She started investigating options for Logan, who had expressed an interest in Judaism—and its holidays and traditions—as cousins and friends elsewhere started reaching a similar milestone.
‘Changed Who I Am’
At the end of 2016, Victoria turned to Chabad, which she had been connected with previously while searching for matzah for Passover and other Jewish holiday food. She sent Rabbi Osher Litzman—who co-directs the Chabad center with his wife, Mussy—a message with an idea for crafting a bar mitzvah. The rabbi responded by offering to come to Songdo from Seoul to work with Logan.
“I was amazed and elated at the openness and the willingness for this very religious rabbi to accept me and accept our family for who we are,” she explains, “and to allow us to have a bar mitzvah in a way that is comfortable for us and a way that is tailored to our liking, to our commitment level and to our way of practicing Judaism.”
A match was made, and after school on some of the days that he didn’t have ju-jitsu, Logan set aside time to learn about what it meant to become a bar mitzvah. The rabbi came weekly to their home to give Logan a regular hour-and-a-half lesson about various tenets of Judaism and to teach him how to read Hebrew. “For me, it was important to introduce them to the beauty of Judaism and teach Logan about the fundamental precepts of our heritage,” says the rabbi.
“With all his homework, he was able to learn quite well,” adds Litzman. “He learned how to read Hebrew; this is a great thing for a boy who also studies another language and many other subjects from early morning till late.”
Fifty-two guests from six different countries were in attendance at the May 21 celebration, with another 20 joining remotely for a short service and explanations about tallit and tefillin. The rabbi also showed guests how to write their names in Hebrew.
Chabad’s front lawn was set with tables covered in elegant cloths and sashes, with flower centerpieces and photos of Logan scattered about. Chabad also catered the affair, offering a buffet of falafel, bourekas, potato latkes, hummus, brisket and other Jewish staples. Guests threw candy and lifted Logan in a chair, which he says was as cool as spending time with friends and eating all the delicious desserts.
Most importantly, the teen says he feels the bar mitzvah deepened his Jewish roots, and that he plans to continue learning more about Judaism. “I think it probably changed who I am because it’s a very powerful experience,” says Logan. “Even if you’re not very religious, even if you don’t do many things, a bar mitzvah is a very important moment in a person’s life.”
He was also honored by the fact that people took time out of their weekends to show they cared. “It was a very fun feeling—that you’d achieved something in life, like a video-game achievement where you’ve unlocked this new level, with this new stuff,” he explains. “I sort of felt like that . . . like I’d unlocked a new part of myself.”
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