(Daniel Alter, great-nephew of long-time Temple members, Sylvan and Glenda Alter, celebrated his Bar Mitzvah recently at Temple Emanuel, in Beaumont, Texas. During the time of preparation for this milestone, he was undergoing treatment for a malignant brain tumor. At Temple Beth-El, we remember Daniel every Shabbat in our Prayer for Healing and wish him a speedy recovery. Here are excerpts from his moving and eloquent remarks at his Bar Mitzvah ceremony:)

A funny thing happened on the way to my Bar Mitzvah. I found out I truly was a One-in-a-Million, make that a One-in-a-Fifty-Million Kid. As a result, I received an all-expense paid trip that started in Arkansas, crossed country to California and will eventually return to Texas. But this journey started long before, back in a time before I knew how tough I really was....

And, this story, just like the Torah, is not without its mystical side. Chai, the Hebrew word for life, is also the Hebrew number 18. For my first surgery, 18 family members and friends came from all over the country. I received a total of 36 hours of surgery, twice Chai. I received six permanent scars during three separate surgeries...3 times 6 = Chai. My first hospital room was 6C...C being the third letter in the alphabet, so 6 times 3 = Chai. My father, the third child of his family, now has a family of six...3 times 6 = Chai.

In Little Rock, I was visited by three different rabbis and six different congregants. You do the math. And, on three different occasions while attending six different hospitals, family members met perfect strangers who saw me, who saw my "aura," or without explanation, knew significant details of this experience and assured my family of my recovery (Ask my family. These stories are really weird)...Again 3 times 6 = Chai.

I learned that I must maintain my sense of humor. After returning home from the hospital in Arkansas, I was allowed to go to school for a class or two each day. When asked what I did this summer, my response was, "I had a brain tumor. What did you do?"

But mostly, I have gotten to spend almost every minute of every day, from July 20 until now, with my parents. Through the stories, the midnight conversations, the consistent belief that I will be all right. I have truly learned how much love exists in my family....

Little Rock was also amazing. All three congregations turned out in strength to welcome a bunch of strangers from Texas. Friends of friends of our friends, people whom we have never met, offered to make their homes, our home....

It is truly amazing how our perspective on life has changed...for the better. I have learned to appreciate things more than ever. For example, after 17 days of not eating or drinking anything, not even water, I now appreciate food, drink,...heck, I appreciate saliva more than most do.

Here's the question, Rabbi...how many students have you had travel all over the country just to avoid your Bar Mitzvah lessons?

There are truly so many to thank; but, I could not possibly do it here. If I tried, we would be here until Devon's Bat Mitzvah. How does one properly thank his Rabbi for training him, another rabbi in Arkansas for maintaining the training, plus a cantor in California for teaching me how to chant and complete my preparations?...

Rabbi Levy in Arkansas told me that doctors are God's hands. I believe him. For being here today, I must thank my doctors: the teams of Dr. Ossama Al-Mefty, in Arkansas, and Dr. Eugen Hug, in California...And, for being here today, I must thank God, for it is because of God's healing powers that I can stand before you and declare... "Today, I am a Man!"

Good Shabbos.

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