Hamersfeld Bar Mitzvah

The Timber Yard in South Melbourne is a hidden yet massive venue space. Lets go back a step first before I start the story of this Aladin themed Barmitzvah.A neighbor from Chile brought up this interesting question at the dinner table :"How come you guys have crazy people on the street?""What do you mean?""You have lunatics here and in America, on the street, shouting or screaming.""You don't have mentally ill people in Chile?""We do but they are not on the street!"That got me thinking. What do we and America have in common? The first thing that popped into my head wasCOMMUNITY. I never realized the importance of a community until my friends pointed out how lucky I was to have one.In my last post, I mentioned the happiness institute found happiness lowest at 1 person, higher in 2 people but highestat 3-4 people. Australians are an individual-based culture vs Eastern Europe like Chile a context-based culture.So many do not have a community and so many are craving that.If you are feeling down, who would you go to? If you are not feeling well, who would nudge you to go to the doctor?Are you surrounded by a community of people who would lift you up?In light of this, I recently had the honor of shooting a Bar Mitzvah for the Hamersfeld family ( so lovely and so funny!)Seeing the family around 13-year-old Asher, his dad, and 2 poppas, just made my heart warm. How wonderful and blessedto have your family of generations around you. How wonderful to be able to celebrate together. Arm in arm on the dancefloor.They did the famous Hora Dance and a little boy flew to the side BUT immediately, caught within a net of safety andbounced back onto the dancefloor.Never take your family for granted. And if you don't have one through culture or birth, then make one. I have 3.My family, my neighbors, and my studio buddies. So blessed.Styling was out of this world: 500 lanterns, Aladin themed, vodka and whiskey carts and the most amazing dessert table, by the one and only Damm Fine Food , Harry the Hirer and Dann Event HireVenue in South Melbourne the Timber yard