Planning Jake’s Bar Mitzvah became a giant puzzle of necessary items and expenses, but also, how much waste was associated with each. I began a quest to have this mitzvah be more sustainable. We were gifted centerpieces and odds and ends from other affairs that I was able to re-purpose, all with an eye to save the environment just a little.  

After spending more hours than I care to admit scrolling through DIY Mitzvah groups, I stumbled across a different approach for the kippot. Instead of the ritual rite of passage—pick a color, decide the inscription, choose your fabric, make a guess at how many you need and then have a large bag of them leftover forever—I found kippah made out of seed paper. 

Not only did they come in a multitude of colors (one less decision to make!), but after the service our guests could take them home, rip them up, and plant them. I loved the idea of kippah that kept on giving. When ordering, I didn’t have to worry about if I had a few too many because there’s no such thing as too many flowers! 

While it hasn’t been warm enough to plant them yet, I can’t wait to get out there this spring and plant our kippot. Knowing that for years to come we will be able to look out in the spring and see beautiful flowers in our yard and think back to the perfect day where we watched Jake blossom before us as he became a Bar Mitzvah, felt to us like the perfect detail to a perfect day.