Bar mitzvah boy dances on
Criticized for his lavish coming-of-age celebration, 13-year-old Sam Horowitz turns out to have had charity in mind
The bar mitzvah boy who shot to Internet stardom last week is clearly a big spender, but he may also be a big giver.
Sam Horowitz, who saw a YouTube video from his bar mitzvah party go viral, became a lightning rod for controversy with the taped dance number, a lavish performance involve professional backup dancers, glitzy costumes and his first name spelled out in giant lights. Many of the video’s hundreds of thousands of viewers weighed in on the clip, with some congratulating the Texas 13-year-old, and others condemning what was clearly an extravagant, expensive celebration.
Despite the high cost of the production, it turns out charity wasn’t entirely absent from the minds of Horowitz and his family, who reportedly donated $36,000 in gifts he received during the festivities. The Dallas teenager even directed guests to donate through the Jewish Agency to an organization in Israel — the Ben Yakir Youth Village, a boarding school for underprivileged young people.
While donating to charity is a standard part of bar mitzvah celebrations, the news may temper some of the criticism.
As for the bar mitzvah boy himself, his sudden online stardom has turned him into a celebrity, at least for the moment. The subject of press attention as far away as England, the aspiring showman performed his dance number a second time Thursday for a much bigger audience — in New York City’s Times Square, on top-rated “Good Morning America.”