Sydney’s Bat Mitzvah Photographs At Ner Tamid In Marietta, GA
It is such an incredibly special time period in a young person’s life when they reach the point of their religious journey and celebrate a Bat Mitzvah.
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The whole family is excited for them.
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Sydney’s family was no exception.
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The joy and excitement over this special event was palpable.
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There also might have been shenanigans going on in the background with a penchant for photobombs.
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There was continual laughter.
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But with the laughter and excitement, there was also this overwhelming feeling of respect and awe over this passage.
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Of carefully removing the Torah from the ark and not touching the word of God with anything other than the yod to follow specific verses written in Hebrew.
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Of course we made the obligatory sibling photographs. Because Blare was thrilled to be celebrating this event with his older sister.
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Once appropriately wrapped up, Sydney wanted a photograph holding the Torah before returning it to is safe location in the ark.
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I love how you can see the shadow of the Star of David on the wall behind the flag of Israel.
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Sydney wanted photographs of her lighting the candles and praying over them.
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So I turned off my flashes in order to capture the candle light in the normal darkness of the Ner Tamid sanctuary.
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Sydney also wanted her mom to pray with her over the candles for a photograph.
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We went outside for a few family photographs.
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But it was so cold outside and they weren’t dressed for winter temperatures that we quickly went back inside Ner Tamid.
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As a non-Jewish person, I am so thankful for the opportunity to document such a special time in Sydney’s life. And to learn more about Jewish customs and traditions. Matt and Julie. Thank you for this honor. You all are wonderful people and I enjoyed working with you so much!
Click over to see other special events documented in photographs.