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C30 celebrate! • 2017 jn CARI HERSKOVITZ- ROSENBLOOM (aka Chef Cari) doesn't remember much about her actual bat mitzvah at Congregation Beth Achim in the early 1990s. But her great- uncle, Henry Sperber, handled the catering. "Star Trax was just trying to get started so my par- ents used them," she said. "We had one of the first VHS music- video-making activities." * RON ELKUS, co-owner of the Shirt Box in Farmington Hills, celebrated his bar mitzvah on Nov. 11, 1972, at Congregation Beth Shalom. His strongest memory is the commemorative yarmulkes his family had made. "My father, Phil, worked for Levi- Strauss at the time; he ended up working there for 31 years. My claim to fame is that he had the company produce brown velvet yarmulkes with the Levi's tag and a sil- ver Levi's button on top," he said. "They matched my suit, which was brown velvet, even though I wore a different yarmulke. It was a big deal to have Levi's yarmulkes! People loved it; it was the talk of the town!" HOWARD TAPPER, CEO of Tapper's Diamonds & Fine Jewelry, became a bar mitzvah, as all Jewish boys do with or without a ceremony, at the age of 13. But he didn't celebrate that status until he was 42 and had an "adult bar mitzvah" at Congregation Beth Shalom in 1990. "I had always wanted to be able to read from the Torah, and chant my haftarah," he said. "Cantor Samuel Greenbaum and Rabbi David Nelson guided me through the process. "I felt more connected to our Jewish heritage and the history of our people. The fact that the same words and teachings are thousands of years old really connected with me. It gave me a great sense of pride to accom- plish learning the tropes and melodies for the blessings and the haftarah portion," he said. "We had a wonderful family celebration in our home, which was a beautiful simchah. "Learning the tropes and melodies enabled me to do the haftarah for Rosh Hashanah a couple of years later," Tapper said. "I was very proud to be part of the High Holiday service." Tapper's effort encouraged other family members. His wife, Susan, father-in-law, Stanley Berlin, and sister-in-law Ellen Kroopnick were all inspired to celebrate their adult b'nai mitz- vah as a family, again with the help of Cantor Greenbaum and Rabbi Nelson. LILA LAZARUS, local TV person- ality, celebrated her bat mitzvah at Temple Israel in 1976 when it was still in the Palmer Park neighborhood of Detroit. "I think back on my bat mitzvah, and I think of the platform shoes I was wearing under my robe. Funny, those exact shoes are back in style today!" she said. Mitzvah Memories JOHN HARDWICK continued from page 28 GEOFF KRETCHMER, a partner in Star Trax and Local Kitchen & Bar, celebrated his bar mitz- vah at Temple Emanu-El on April 11, 1980. His strongest memories are of the party. "My parents rented out the Huntington Woods Rec Center, which was smaller in those days; there was a fireplace room con- nected to a game room," he said. "We had the whole place for me and my friends and didn't have to compete with the neighborhood kids for the games. We had about 60 kids and brought in pizza and pop. The DJ was my sister's friend Andy Keeter because he had the most records. We danced, played games and had a ball!"