This Thursday we will gather as a family & community to celebrate my daughter’s batmitzvah, not just her coming of age, but a deeper truth about who we are as Jews. It is no coincidence that this momentous day falls on Lag BaOmer, it was a conscious choice, for it is a festival that breaks solemnity with a burst of joy, music, & light.
The 49 days between Passover and Shavuot are traditionally a time of reflection and restraint, a collective remembrance of loss. But on the 33rd day, Lag BaOmer, we are told we must rejoice. It is a spark of light in a period of mourning, a reminder that even in our people’s darkest hour, we should find joy, love life and stand together.
This year, that message feels more urgent, more personal, than ever before.
Since 7 October , when the most devastating attack on Jews since the Holocaust shattered lives and hearts, Jews everywhere have carried a heavy burden. In the UK, antisemitism has surged, what once felt distant has become heartbreakingly close.
Just weeks after that terrible day, my daughter, then only eleven, experienced antisemitism for the first time. While visiting another school, she was told she couldn’t use their bathroom because “Jews weren’t allowed”. Her response was to start wearing a Magen David necklace every day, as a symbol of who she was. She said it was because she was proud of being Jewish & wouldn’t let others make her afraid, that she didn’t blame the other child, but the parents who taught them to hate.
In that moment, my daughter became my teacher. I’ve used her words to inspire and motivate me every day since.
Lag BaOmer teaches us that we are a people who celebrate life, not because we are naive to suffering, but because we understand it deeply. We know the pain of exile, of persecution, of silence. And yet, generation after generation, we have chosen joy. We have chosen to pass on our traditions not only with memory, but with music, dance, & laughter.
To become Batmitzvah is to accept the responsibility of being Jewish. It is also to inherit a legacy of strength, pride, and resilience. This Thursday, my daughter will join that unbroken chain. She will do so proudly, with a Magen David around her neck, not as armour to protect her, but as a statement to the world of who she is.
In a time when hate seems louder than hope, we owe it to our children not only to protect what we have, but to fight for what they have yet to build. That is the sacred task of Jewish parenthood & of Jewish continuity.
If there is one lesson from this Bat Mitzvah, Lag BaOmer and 7 October, it’s that true courage means standing up and not allowing yourself to be defined by fear. Refuse to retreat into silence, refuse to apologise for who you are, refuse to hand a broken world to our children with the excuse that it was too hard to fix.
Be inspired by them and be brave enough to take responsibility for their futures.
- Leo Pearlman is co-CEO Of Fulwell Entertainment
