This is an advertisement, which was probably published in the 1950s or early 1960s, inviting bar and bat mitzvah families to mark the event on a cruise with the family and to incorporate the celebration on board. The advertisement emphasises the added value of expanding one’s horizons by learning about other countries and people and also offers the bar or bat mitzvah child a 50% discount off the cost of the cruise. The design is simple in form and colour, red and black, and is characteristic of the period. It pictures two smiling children: on the right-hand side is a boy wearing a kippah and tallit and holding a Bible in his hands; on the left-hand side is a girl wearing a necklace with a Star of David and holding a flower. In between the children is a black-and-white photograph cut in the shape of a ship of a bar mitzvah celebration on the deck of a ship, in which a bar mitzvah boy is seen shaking the captain’s hand and receiving a book as a gift.
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Bar/Bat Mitzvah – Bar mitzvah for boys or bat mitzvah for girls refers to the ages, 12 and 13 respectively, at which a Jew becomes obligated to fulfil the Jewish commandments and is allowed to participate fully in Jewish ritual and law. Since the Middle Ages, Jewish families have celebrated this milestone with a variety of different ceremonies and celebrations that have developed over time and place. In the past only boys celebrated their coming of age, but these days, in most communities, girls also celebrate. Bar and bat mitzvahs may consist of the celebrant being called up to the Torah for an aliyah, reading the weekly Torah portion or Haftarah, giving a sermon about the Torah reading, or leading the prayer service. Parties are probably the most common way of celebrating this milestone with family and friends. In recent years, participating in a social action project has also become quite common in some communities. In the past only boys celebrated their coming of age, though in recent years almost all communities celebrate also the girls' Bat Mitzvah.
Zim Line – The Zim Palestine Navigation Co. was founded in 1945 by the Jewish Agency, the Histradrut, and the Israel Maritime League. Originally it carried immigrants escaping from Europe to pre-state Israel. After the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Zim was Israel’s only maritime carrier, and in addition to carrying immigrants, its ships also transported food, freight, and military equipment. Between 1954 and 1961 35 new ships were built in West Germany, paid for by the Reparation Payments Agreement, which was an agreement between West Germany and Israel whereby West Germany would pay Israel for the costs of “resettling so great a number of uprooted and destitute Jewish refugees” after the war. And, indeed, many of the ships were used to transport Holocaust survivors. Newer ships, such as the SS Theodor Herzl, bought in 1957, were used solely for luxury voyages. By the late 1960s, travel by passenger ships began to decrease with the rise in air travel, and Zim started selling its passenger ships to cruise companies. The last of the company’s passenger vessels, the SS Theodor Herzl, completed her final voyage for Zim on November 27, 1969 and was sold to Carnival cruises. In 1999, Zim was sold to a private company, and it is today Israel’s largest cargo shipping company.
