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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (24365)	1/14/2004 10:07:15 PM
From: gamesmistress	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793622

..WSJ [is] making that up, right? Unfortunately, probably not. They may call it a "bat mitzvah" but it wasn't, and IMO to call it that is derogatory to the religious meaning of a true bat mitzvah. What the girl saw, and wanted, was the huge party. Jewish parents are spending on bar and bat mitzvah parties what they used to spend on weddings. I don't think anyone's topped this one, though. The last line is a bit of ironic understatement. Girl Gets Titanic Bat Mitzvah Thursday, October 29, 1998; 1:43 a.m. EST PITTSBURGH (AP) -- It was, by all accounts, a titanic bat mitzvah. Thirteen-year-old Lisa Niren, described by her sister as obsessed with ``Titanic,'' got the bat mitzvah of her dreams over the weekend. A hotel ballroom was transformed into the luxury liner, with 12-foot steaming smokestacks at the buffet table, phosphorescent artificial icebergs and a ``steerage'' section for the children. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the celebration last Saturday was rumored to cost as much as $500,000. Her father, Dr. Neil Niren, would not confirm the price tag, but Bonnie Chirigos, who spent a year planning the gala, said ``it was nowhere near that.'' Noting that his own parents survived the Holocaust, Niren said: ``Anyone can go down at any time. We didn't want to wait to show how much we love one another.'' Three hundred people came from as far as Canada, Mexico and Argentina to fete Lisa, who is ``obsessed'' with the Oscar-winning movie, according to her 15-year-old sister, Leslie. The movie played over and over again on a 12-foot screen above a balcony at the Westin William Penn, one of Pittsburgh's fanciest hotels. The piece de resistance was a gigantic photo, 10 feet above the floor, featuring Lisa's face superimposed over actress Kate Winslet's body in a famous ``Titanic'' scene on the prow of the ocean liner. Lisa appeared to have teen heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio smiling over her shoulder. ``Isn't this awesome?'' Lisa said, mugging for snapshots with her family. ``I just love the movie. I got the video the day it came out, and I watch it all the time. This is just amazing!'' Reflective aqua-tinted lighting along the walls and the phosphorescent blue and green icebergs made it appear as if the ballroom was under water. Tables featured roses, crystal candelabras and replicas of the heart-shaped blue diamond necklace from the movie. ``This is incredible,'' said Heather Levy, a friend of Lisa's mother. ``A lot of people do things for their children because they love them, but this goes beyond all that. I'm just standing here smiling.'' The bat mitzvah -- or bar mitzvah, for boys -- is a Jewish religious celebration marking a child's passage into religious adulthood.