Jewish World Review Feb. 19, 2002 /7 Adar, 5762
 |
Elliot B. Gertel
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
THE Disney Channel's engaging series, Lizzie McGuire, just offered a noteworthy episode about the bar mitzvah of regular character David Gordon (Adam Lemberg). It seems that "Gordo" frets that he has fallen behind his other fourteen-year-old male classmates who have shown signs of becoming men, either by shaving or by driving dirt bikes.
The teen's female friends, Lizzie McGuire and Miranda, a gifted Hispanic student, note with admiration these tokens "manhood," and even swoon a bit over certain boys. Gordo announces that he will soon demonstrate that he has crossed that threshold, as well.
A prodigy filmmaker, Gordo interviews various men he knows, including Lizzie's and Miranda's fathers, and documents their rites of passage into manhood. Among those whom Gordo interviews, are a Native American who reminisces about fishing and a biker who boasts about his first tattoo.
It doesn't take Gordo long to realize that he is not interested in any of these things. He does know that, as a Jewish boy, his ancestral rite of manhood is the bar mitzvah. When he first mentions that, quite matter of factly, to his female friends, they squeal with delight at the opportunity to get a lot of money in presents for a "half hour ritual," as he describes the bar mitzvah. Gordo quickly decides that he will utilize the time-tested Jewish manhood rite, especially since the girls responded so attentively to him once he made that decision.
It seems to me that while well-intentioned, writer Melissa Gould has missed a fine opportunity to educate and challenge her young viewers.
Gordo complains to his parents that they have directed him in every other activity in his life-like homework, for example-but that they left the choice of having a bar mitzvah completely up to him. They reply that they wanted to teach him that he must make such personal decisions when he is ready. When he protests that he is now fourteen and it might be too late to have a bar mitzvah, they assure him that he is able to have such a ceremony at any age.
Actually, in Jewish law and tradition, a Jewish boy automatically becomes a bar mitzvah at age 13, and can have the "ceremony" at any time in his life. But the tradition prods him to do so at age 13, when he does, in fact, become responsible for observing the commandments and his actions.
Aren't the obligations to a particular tradition and religious way of life at least as compelling as reasons to perform a certain ritual as the decision to embrace religious practices when one is "ready"? And isn't Gordo's "readiness" intended more to impress the young females with an "exotic" (or, rather, profitable) ritual than as a pledge to study and observe the Torah out of a desire to grow closer to one's G-d and His Commandments?
The episode ends in the synagogue, with Gordo telling the congregation that he wanted to choose the rite of passage that was most meaningful to him, and after careful interviews and comparisons, he chose bar mitzvah. He is then handed the Torah scroll by the rabbi, unwraps it and recites the bar mitzvah blessings. (Gordo uses the yad, or Torah pointer, while he is reciting the blessings. For some reason, probably time constraints, writer Gould has chosen to compress blessings and Torah reading together.
For another reason she has the synagogue usher holding a collection plate at the door of the sanctuary on the Sabbath. Was this intended as a parody on jokes about Jews and money?
Interestingly, Gordo's parents, who are introduced for the first time in this episode, are themselves a kind of parody, or at least stereotype. Howard Gordon (Michael Mantell) is a Richard Dreyfuss look alike and the mother, Roberta (Alison Martin) is portrayed, in look and characterization, as a warmer Lilith figure a la NBC's Frasier. Their home is starkly modern and avant-garde.
I find it hard to be impressed with Gordo's reasons for his bar mitzvah. Somehow, the choice to go through the rituals just because they are "our" way of marking manhood, rings a bit hollow, and seems like too little too late, considering all the personal motivation and perceived peer pressure to do something.
At its best, Lizzie McGuire imparts values and moral perspectives reminiscent of the thoughtful and sensitive scripts of such classics as Father Knows Best and Leave It To Beaver.
In general, television depictions of bar mitzvahs are bad to mediocre, historically speaking. Lizzie McGuire's bar mitzvah episode failed to rise too far above the others, but the depiction of Gordo in other episodes is, in the main, a nice depiction of a (slightly-older-than-bar-mitzvah) Jewish
Enjoy this writer's work? Why not sign-up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
12/24/01: Jewish manhood strikes out
Hollywood Bar Mitzvah$
Contributing writer Elliot B. Gertel, JWR's resident media
maven, is a
Conservative rabbi based in Chicago. To comment, please click here.
08/16/01: State of Grace has quite a bit of its own
07/11/01: Yet another pathetic Holocaust movie
01/04/01: Oprah redefines Jewish philanthropy
12/20/00: The wicked world of the West?
11/29/00: Is Gideon’s Crossing purposely reinforcing prejudices?
11/09/00: "Meet the Parents" ... but dishonor religion
07/06/00: Sacred synagogues? Not when Hollywood comes calling
06/21/00: Defunct 'Early Edition' is no loss to people of faith
03/20/00: When Black Archie Bunkers 'diss' the 'Jewish doctors'
03/07/00: Jack and Jill: Turning the table on stereotypes?
07/27/99: Popular Providence sends troubling messages about religion and science
06/14/99: May 'The Nanny,' R.I.P. --- not!
06/07/99: Suddenly Susan's Death of a Rabbi
05/13/99: During the "sweeps," religion suffers