Dogs sadly don’t live as long as humans do, so for a dog to live into their teens is a big accomplishment in “dog years.”
When a dog gets to that age, you want to make every birthday as special as possible. So when their dog turned 13, one family decided to give him a hilarious ceremony borrowing from their own traditions.
Bar and bat mitzvahs are ceremonies, usually given to young people about 13-years-old, celebrating a transition into adulthood in the Jewish faith.
They’re usually not given to dogs, for many reasons. But when their Labradoodle Brody reached the age of 13 recently, one family decided that for his birthday, he should get his own bar mitzvah — or “bark mitzvah,” as they punningly called it.
“We had always talked about doing it years ago, and then time crept up on us and my dog actually lived to be 13 so we knew we had to celebrate,” 21-year-old owner Reagan Fink told the Daily Mail.
The family went all out, getting Brody his own yarmulke, tallis and prayer shawl, making this dog look like he’s ready to read from the Torah.
His owners even lifted him up in a chair to the sound of “Hava Nagila,” a traditional bar mitzvah celebration, as seen in Reagan’s viral TikTok video:
@raeganfink my dog turned 13 today so ofc he had to celebrate his barkmitzvah #jewish #dogs #labradoodle #barmitzvah #doodledog
♬ Hava Nagila – Leonard Bookman
They also celebrated the dog’s milestone birthday, complete with a bone-shaped “happy birthday” cookie, along with one shaped like the Star of David.
And of course, he got some nice gifts, too, including two stuffed banana toys.
“For his bday gift we got him some toys from Target and he loved it,” Reagan said.
Sure, maybe Brody is still a bit confused about what a bar mitzvah is, but he still seemed to enjoy his gifts, and his owners got a fun memory with their senior dog that will last years to come.
The TikTok has gone viral, and Reagan says she’s thrilled with how positive the feedback has been. Maybe “bark mitzvahs” will become the new tradition for dogs hitting their teens.
Happy 13th birthday to Brody! What a way to celebrate! Mazel Tov!
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