Bar Mitzvah is 2 hours long

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On Saturday we have a Bar Mitzvah to go to. Kid and DD have been friends since 1st grade. Me and the mom are close. But holy moly the ceremony is two hours and then drive to the party. Some blogs are talking about going in and out during the ceremony. Is that a thing? I don’t go to movies because I cannot sit still for 2 hours. HELP

Seriously?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That’s pretty standard. Bar/Bat Mitzvah services are just Saturday morning services, with the Bar/Mat Mitzvah kid doing at least the Torah portion, if not other parts of the service as well.

Most Jews show up late to services. They’ll start around 9:30, but most of us know when the Torah service starts and we’ll make sure to be there for that. A lot of times, services don’t end until around 12, at which point we nosh. Of course.

Wow. Just wow

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s pretty standard. Bar/Bat Mitzvah services are just Saturday morning services, with the Bar/Mat Mitzvah kid doing at least the Torah portion, if not other parts of the service as well.

Most Jews show up late to services. They’ll start around 9:30, but most of us know when the Torah service starts and we’ll make sure to be there for that. A lot of times, services don’t end until around 12, at which point we nosh. Of course.

Wow. Just wow

Sat morning services are 3 separate services. They just happen to follow each each other. When Jews say they show up late, they mean they are skipping the morning service. The mitzvah takes place during the torah service. Everyone is there for that. Then there’s a short 30 min service that follows the Torah service.

In practice, it’s just Sat morning services. But no need to be aghast. Skipping the morning service is normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s pretty standard. Bar/Bat Mitzvah services are just Saturday morning services, with the Bar/Mat Mitzvah kid doing at least the Torah portion, if not other parts of the service as well.

Most Jews show up late to services. They’ll start around 9:30, but most of us know when the Torah service starts and we’ll make sure to be there for that. A lot of times, services don’t end until around 12, at which point we nosh. Of course.

What kind of jews do you know? I grew up going to a conservative temple and now belong to a reformed one, and NOBODY shows up late except one random person who got stuck at work. It would be SO disrespectful to go in and out throughout the services! Sure, if you have to pee, go to the bathroom, but otherwise, suck it up and sit through it.

with all do respect, this above poster is not embedded in mainstream American jewish life. One tell is referring to 'reformed' temple, which is just not the jargon.
op, listen to most of the other posters here. If it is a conservative or orthodox synagogue, 100 percent you do not have to come at or towards the beginning. Also, behavior at most (non-reform) Jewish synagogues is very different than at prayer services in many other cultures. One needs to be respectful, obviously, but the social norms of respect vary a lot. Heck, in my synagogue, the rabbi circulates around the sanctuary during a lot of the service, chatting with congregants. btw, this is not new behavior for Jews-- there is a social commentary (maybe by Alexander de Toqueville??) about how noisy Jewish prayer services were, hundreds of years ago.